Circular on controlling the outflow of labourers, March 1989.
In early March 1989, China's General Office of the State Council issued an urgent Circular demanding that various local governmental bodies "do a good job in strictly controlling the blind outflow of laborers."  The circular pointed out that "since the Spring Festival, large numbers of laborers from Sichuan, Henan, Hubei, Shandong, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and other provinces have concentrated in large numbers in regions such as the northwest, the northwest, and Guangdong Province, causing a huge increase in railroad passenger traffic.  There has been a large pile-up of passengers on some main railroad lines and stations, and trains have been seriously overcrowded.  This has put tremendous pressure on railroad transport.  After arriving in the above mentioned regions, some of these laborers hang around the streets because they cannot find work, and their life is extremely difficult.  The large influx of laborers into these regions has caused confusion in local social order."  In order to resolve this problem satisfactorily, the circular makes the following demands:  "The people's government at all levels must rapidly get under control the blind outflow of laborers and their assembly in large numbers for moving elsewhere.  It is necessary to organize forces to admonish and stop those laborers who have already assembled at the railroad stations, so that they will not blindly move elsewhere.  They should also be mobilized to return to their home towns."
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