Chinese media reported in mid June 2012 that the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province has issued new regulations on migrant workers demanding migrants hold a high school degree in order to obtain a residence permit, or juzhuzheng (居住证). Migrants must also be able to show that they have a stable work in the city and no criminal record. In the following cartoon, posted by artist Cao Yi (曹一) to Sina Weibo on June 18, a street cleaner sweeps the migrant rubbish (rural migrants who don’t meet the high school degree threshold) into the sea outside the city of Hangzhou with a broom made out of the cleaner’s own “high school degree”.
David Bandurski
CMP Director
