Confronted with a population explosion set off by looser household registration controls, the once-welcoming city of Zhengzhou shut its gates on many potential migrants in late August, the China Youth Daily reported Wednesday.

The municipal government of Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, introduced in August 2003 a new scheme that granted migrants household registration if they had relatives in the city.

However, the new policy came screeching to a halt just a year later, after the city's registered population swelled by 150,000.

The China Youth Daily report says the move to limit registrations is being made to relieve the burden on the city's traffic, education, health care and other public sectors.

As a result, only those in the immediate family of a Zhengzhou citizen, such as a parent, spouse or child, can now get household registration in the city. However, people who have a permanent legal address and steady employment may still apply.

Until last year, change of household registration was all but impossible. Regulatory changes gave individual locales the option of opening their registration books to migrants.

In Zhengzhou, the rapid population increase has taken its toll on the city's public transport system. The city has issued 800,000 discount bus passes in the past two years, far above the 200,000 it anticipated, according to the China Youth Daily report.

Schools are overcrowded, with class sizes in some downtown primary schools swelling to more than 90 students, nearly double the norm.

The city's social welfare and insurance programs are also challenged, since some of the newcomers are eligible for government subsidies.

The reform of the household registration system is widely considered a mark of social progress in the course of urbanization, but it will only be a success if urban infrastructure and facilities are prepared for the impact.

(China Daily September 16, 2004)