The government and city administrators have been gradually easing unreasonable restrictions on migrant farmer workers in recent years.

In Chongqing, one of the major source areas for migrant workers, a statute on safeguarding their rights and interests took effect in June 2005, the first of its kind in China. It states that migrant farmer workers are entitled to free job counseling, legal aid and free immunizations for their children.

He said that Chongqing was also considering to initiate a field survey and draft a guideline document to secure the benefits of rural migrant laborers.

Since September 2004, Beijing has included migrant farmer workers into the social insurance system.

In 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to help migrant workers retrieve unpaid wages during his inspection of the rural areas of Chongqing after a housewife complained that wages of her husband were always in arrears.

Some observers have said bias against migrant farmer workers comes fundamentally from political discrimination. But in March this year, the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, adopted a resolution providing for rural migrant worker representatives in the national parliament for next year's session, which was viewed as a major step for China's political reform.