"Balancing urban and rural development and pushing forward the building of a new socialist countryside" -- a part of Hu Jintao's report delivered to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Monday morning.

Coincidentally, the first Migrant Workers' Day in China falls on the first Sunday of November was launched by the Standing Committee of Chongqing Municipal People's Congress last month, ahead of the opening of the 17th CPC National Congress.

Not surprisingly, the panel discussion of the Chongqing Municipality delegation, held at Chongqing Hall of the Great Hall of the People on Monday afternoon, focused on the harmonious development between urban and rural areas.

The issue of how to tackle prominent problems about agriculture, countryside and farmers, is crucial for accelerating the urbanization process and balancing the development of urban and rural areas in Chongqing. The population in the rural area of Chongqing accounts for over 70 percent of the municipality's population.

Consequently, in June, Chongqing was approved by the Chinese State Council as the only provincial-level piloting area in China for Comprehensive Reform for Coordinated and Balanced Urban-Rural Development.

"The move indicates the confidence the central government has in Chongqing's development. The key to address it is to cope with migrant workers," said Tong Xiaoping, Vice Mayor of Chongqing.

Chongqing has 23 million peasants, which makes the municipality the largest market in exporting and importing labor forces.

"To a great extent, the migrant worker group plays an important role in balancing urban and rural development," said Wang Yang, Party Chief of Chongqing. "Unfortunately, their livelihood, space for development and improvement are suffering from the absence of a well-designed mechanism."

He added that in March 2006, the State Council had put forward several proposals for addressing social protection issues relevant to migrant workers.

"Following State Council Resolution No. 5 in April 2006, the State Council established a Leading Group on Migrant Workers and an Office of Migrant Workers, located within the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in China, to oversee the extension of social security and social services to migrant workers," he said.

Wang has held this position since December 2005. Previous titles include Deputy Party Chief and Vice Governor of Anhui Province, Vice Minister of State Development Planning Commission, and Deputy Secretary-general of State Council. He is currently head of the Chongqing Delegation of 17th CPC National Congress.

According to Wang, the whole nation, not just Chongqing, would benefit from the reform for coordinated and balanced urban-rural development, as long as the guidelines of the central government were combined with the reality of Chongqing. Also, he said, a mechanism should be established to cope with the problems of migrant workers.

Where migrant workers all over China are concerned, there are four "lows" -- low incomes, low living standards, low comprehensive power and low social status, and four "hards" -- hard to find a job, hard to protect their rights, hard to get their children enrolled, and hard to get social protection. In other words, they belong to the "weak group".

He Shizhong, Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, explained the purpose of launching the first Migrant Workers' Day.

"It can be regarded as a kind of exploration, which aims to improve their social status, protect their legal rights, enrich their cultural life, and create an environment that would help them merge better with city lives," he said. "It would help to eliminate the conceptual barrier between urban and rural areas, and smooth the construction of the piloting area."

The theme of the first Migrant Workers' Day, according to He, would be "Fusing into the city, realizing your value". The government will launch a series of related activities in fields such as employment, residence, law, schooling, health and culture, etc.

"Besides various activities that will help to make the workers feel secure, the government will also take some measures to assist them," said He. "For example, it will offer free health check-ups in their area, free day tours around Chongqing, consultations for work-related problems they might have, etc. The government will set a theme every year on Migrant Workers' Day and spare no effort to help them," said He.

According to Chongqing Daily, the government has also applied to the Standing Committee of Chongqing Municipal People's Congress (the legislative body) to recommend migrant workers as candidate delegates of the Municipal People's Congress; the number will account for five percent of the total. This can be seen as a way of broadening their access to local political affairs, as well as a step forward in respecting and protecting their democratic rights.