The issue of rural labor migrants（Nongmin Gong）has become one of most significant public and policy concerns in China in recent years. Since 2000，the state has adjusted its policy from passively controlling and regulating rural migrants to positively protecting and helping them in cities（Bai Nanshen，et al.，2002；Huang Ping &. Frank Pieke，2003）. In 2002，the central government promulgated a “16-word” principle as a general policy guide on rural migrants in an official document：“Fair Treatment，Reasonable Consultation and Suggestion，Comprehensive Management，and Better Service”（Gongping Duidai，Heli Yindao，Wanshan Guanli，Gaohao Fuwu）. However，under this general principle，there have been many different opinions on how to protect and help rural migrants in practice，who are regarded as a disadvantageous group in comparison with urban laborers. Still，the central government and many local governments are waiting for practical policy proposals. This paper will critically review the existing policies and on-going discussions in this respect，and propose rebuilding rural migrants’ communities as a new strategy to deal with the problems relating to rural-urban migration in China.

1.Policy framework and on-going arguments

1.1 Hukou System

Household Registration System（Hukou System）was established in 1958 and became a strict system to prevent rural-urban labor migration before 1984. After 1984，Hukou system has become more and more flexible and gradually divorced from other institutional arrangements，such as food supply，education，employment，health care，social security，etc.. In 1997，the Ministry of Public Security announced that rural people could apply for their urban Hukou in townships，small and medium-size cities if they have been working and living there for more than a year. Since June 2003，a new policy for wandering homeless people and beggars has made local urban authorities have no reason to send the migrants back home. In last two years，many provinces abandoned the separation of from urban Hukou instead of a united one，such as Chongqing，Zhejiang，Hebei，etc..

Most rural migrant laborers in cities still have rural Hukou，however. That is why they are called “Nongmin Gong” in Chinese. Indeed their Hukou distinguish them from urban residents and to some degree exclude them from urban social policies，such as social insurance，public relief，education，etc.，even though sometimes they are not willing to participate in these urban “games” due to their low salaries and informal employment.

However，Hukou System has still been a main target of critics. The most radical opinion attributes all migrants’ miseries to Hukou system，and argues that only by abandoning it completely could rural residents，migrants and urban residents be treated equally. However，the opposite argue that Hukou system has been modified greatly since the year of 1984 when an official document was issued to allow farmers to seek jobs and run businesses in cities，and it is not a main barrier against migration and social equality any more. Moreover，Hukou system has some positive effects to protect the disadvantage，such as farmers and migrants. For example，the rural Hukou provides the farmers and migrants with a piece of farmland，which is a source of their livelihood and can reduce their risks in urban labor market. The authority also expresses that Hukou system should be further modified but not be abandoned completely，according to the announcement of Ministry of Public Security in 2002^[1].

1.2 Labor market

With the abandonment of those policies excluding rural migrants from some sectors，which had been adopted in some big cities in late 1990s，such as Shanghai，Beijing，Shenzhen，etc.，rural migrants can in principle be employed in any sector in labor market. However，a large proportion of rural migrants have still found their jobs in so-called “3-D”（dangerous，dirty and difficult）or informal sectors with a low salary partly due to their shortage of human capital. For instance，some researches show that almost 90 percent of workers are migrant laborers in the industry of construction，80 percent of in the industry of mining，50 percent in service sectors（the People’s Daily，2003）. Thus the issue of protection of migrant laborers become much important and has attracted the public and governments’ concerns. In September 2003，the Ministry of Labor and Social Security（MOLSS）and the Ministry of Construction（MOC）jointly issued another “Notice on Resolving the Problem of Delayed Wages of Migrant Laborers in Construction”，and in September 2004，the two central agencies issued another document again to try to institutionalize wage payment among migrant workers in construction and ensure their wages will not be delayed. Moreover，the MOLSS demanded in June 2004 that the employers must purchase work-injury