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migrant workers – who build the capital's offices and mansions, clean its streets and guard its security – have been shut down,

Tens of thousands of migrant children are left without schools

rural origin – a third of the city's 19 million population

day-to-day inju

stices

hukou (household registration), set up in 1958

control rural-to-urban migration

Peasants' role was to produce and feed the cities and support the modernisation process of their motherland.

as shown on their ID – no matter what they might choose to do. "Wo shi nongmin [I am a peasant],"

Deng Xiao Ping's gaige kaifang (economic reforms and opening up), in the late 1970s.

Agricultural production increased in the early stage of the reforms in "releasing the productive forces",

half of the 400 million rural working population have been pushed off the land, seeking a livelihood away from their villages.

As rural residents came to the cities, they immediately faced discrimination and exclusion.

They spoke their own dialects instead of "proper" Mandarin. Many faced verbal abuse as soon as they arrived.

the strict requirement for the unaffordable temporary residency permit, and the random street search by police.

The criteria for applying for a hukou remain harsh, and unreachable for most migrants, and many work for years without any status.

Without hukou,

healthcare, education and housing.

urban dwellers pay a minimal cost for medical care, many migrants have to return home for treatment.

"These children aren't treated as everyone else. They're called the mobile students, who can't go to state schools. Their parents have for years sent their children to privately run schools without proper facilities or curriculum."

hundreds such private schools were set up.

government-funded National Development and Reform Commission

admits it is an "institutional barrier"

government has shown no wish to listen to migrant workers' demands.

voice their discontent is by petitioning the local authorities

Little happens as a result.

Some suspect that migrant children's schools are being closed as a disincentive to future migration.

protests, road blockages, sit-ins and spontaneous strikes.

Hsiao-Hung Pai, Beijing

Migrants who toil in the cities still face a decades-old system of segregation and exploitation. But many are now demanding fairness

Beijing "a city of violence"

Beijing's migrant worker slums

are ruthlessly segregated from the urban dwellers, economically, socially and culturally

stairwells

2004 after a $20m security upgrade. The observation deck at the top of the crown was reopened on 4 July 2009.

240 people visit each day. About 3.5 million people visit the monument every year.

history

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ppression systems, elevators and bathrooms.

Also on Saturday, the rebels said they fought their way into the strategic city of Zawiya, seen as their most significant advance in months.

But the Gaddafi government has denied the rebel report as a "media game,"

The city of about 200,000 is key because it controls the main supply road to Tripoli from the Tunisian border.

Many of Zawiya's rebels then fled into the mountains and were among the lead forces advancing on the city on Saturday.