北京發起拆除非法住房行動

Beijing has started a citywide wave of demolitions and evictions within migrant worker communities, the biggest city clean-up campaign in a decade.

北京在全市範圍針對進城務工人員聚居區發起了清理拆遷行動，這是該市10年來最大規模的城市清理行動。

The surge in evictions was prompted by an apartment fire last week that killed 19 people in Beijing’s Daxing district, just south of the city’s affluent centre and an area where many garment factories employing migrant workers operate.

這波拆遷的導火線是近日北京市大興區一棟公寓樓發生火災，造成19人死亡（文首照片是火災後的這棟公寓樓——編者注）。大興區坐落於北京富裕的中心城區以南，這裏有很多僱傭農民工的服裝廠。

In response, Beijing last week initiated 40 days of citywide safety inspections that have left migrant workers struggLing to find shelter during a winter cold snap as informal settlements and businesses were shuttered with little notice.

火災發生後，北京市政府很快宣佈在全市開展爲期40天的安全隱患大排查、大清理、大整治專項行動。由於非正規的居住點和企業在幾乎沒有通知的情況下被拆，很多務工人員在冷空氣影響中國首都之際一時找不到住所。

This evictions are part of the largest demolition campaign the city has seen since preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The clearances have renewed concerns that the government wants to accelerate the gentrification of old Beijing.

此輪清拆是該市自2008年北京奧運會籌備階段以來最大規模的拆遷行動的一部分。這些拆遷令人再度擔憂政府希望加快推進北京舊城區的高檔化。

“I think the government wanted an excuse to begin these urban clean-ups,” said a native of Henan province surnamed Xu who sells food in Daxing district. “They have never wanted people like us, and now they have a new reason to kick us out.”

“我認爲政府想要一個藉口來搞這些城市清理行動，”在大興區賣食品的一位姓徐的河南人表示。“他們從來不想要我們這樣的人，現在他們有一個新的理由把我們踢走。”

Municipal officials want to demolish a total of 40m square metres in illegal dwellings by the end of this year. This has resulted in an acceleration of a depopulation drive this year that has decimated small businesses and schools catering to migrants.

市政官員希望在今年底之前拆除4000萬平方米的違規住房。今年以來的人口疏解行動因此加快進行，導致面向務工人員的小企業和學校難以爲繼。

In 2006, in the run up to the Olympics, 45m square metres of illegal construction were demolished to make space for new infrastructure, according to municipal statistics, mostly in the city’s centre, displacing up to 1.5m residents.

北京市政府的統計數據顯示，2006年，在北京夏季奧運會籌備期間，4500萬平方米的違規建築被拆除，爲新的基礎設施騰出空間，拆遷地段大部分在市中心，導致150萬市民搬遷。

Beijing’s evictions and demolitions are in line with a ruling Communist party policy announced in 2013 of “tightly controlling” the population in China’s largest cities, while making it easier for migrants to settle and access social services in smaller cities.

北京的拆遷行動符合執政的共產黨在2013年宣佈的政策，即嚴格控制中國各大城市人口，同時讓農村進城人員在中小城市更容易定居和獲得社會服務。

“Beneath every city's gleaming surface lies the darker conditions of migrant workers,” said Xu Lin, the urban development director at China’s top policy planning body, at a summit last week. “We must recognise their contributions.”

國家發改委城市和小城鎮改革發展中心主任徐林上週在一個峯會上表示，每座城市光鮮的表面之下，都隱藏着農民工陰暗的生存條件；必須承認他們的貢獻。

The safety inspections have hit China’s ecommerce sector particularly hard, as many of the workers for on-demand services such as ride-hailing and food-delivery apps are migrants who frequently bunk in crowded apartments like that which burned down in Daxing last week.

安全隱患大排查給中國電子商務行業帶來的衝擊尤其沉重，因爲許多按需服務（例如叫車和送餐app）的工作人員都是進城務工人員，這些人通常蝸居在擁擠的公寓樓，就像11月18日晚在大興區被燒燬的那種樓。

“Every delivery worker has been affected somehow. Our dormitories are closing next Monday, and we were given seven days’ notice to move,” said a courier surnamed Li, who shares a room with five other men only 6km from the Forbidden City. “I have not found a new place, but we need to continue working regardless.”

“每個快遞員多少都受到了影響。我們的宿舍將在週一關閉，我們接到了七天內搬家的通知，”一名姓李的快遞員表示；他和另外五名男子在距離故宮僅6公里的地方合住一個房間。“我還沒有找到新的住處，但我們還需要繼續打工。”

Delivery workers are now sorting parcels and charging their vehicles outside after logistics station was deemed not up to code, he said. Several delivery workers said they had resorted to sleeping inside their delivery vehicles.

他說，在物流站被認定爲不符合規定後，快遞員們現在在戶外分揀包裹，並給他們的車輛充電。幾名快遞員說，他們只能睡在送貨車上。

“The overwhelming majority of workers in the new economy — including express delivery, food delivery, or ride apps such as Didi drivers — are in fact migrant workers,” said Keegan Elmer, a researcher at China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based campaign group.

“新經濟產業中的絕大多數工人，包括快遞員、送餐員，或者叫車app如滴滴出行的司機，實際上都是農民工，”總部位於香港的勞工權益組織《中國勞工通訊》(China Labour Bulletin)研究員基根?埃爾默(Keegan Elmer)表示。

“The new economy is still fuelled by migrant labour, particularly because employers, and even cities as we see here, treat them as a cheap and disposable workforce.”

“新經濟仍然由農民工推動，尤其是因爲僱主，甚至是我們在這個案例中看到的這種城市，都把他們視爲廉價和一次性的勞動力。”