Yang Zhipeng, a former farmer now working in Xi'an, capital of northwest Shaanxi Province, is happy to have become a new citizen of the city.

Following the decision by the city's Yanta District to grant migrants the same rights as existing residents, Yang's life will change for the better.

It means he will be provided with almost everything in his working and home life that urban residents enjoy, according to a document issued by the Yanta district government.

On Wednesday morning, Yang was given a book entitled "Urban Living Guide for New Citizens."

The book provides information about residence, employment, schooling, labor and social security, medical services, traffic facilities, work safety and living necessities for farmers who work and live in Xi'an.

"The change not only makes it easier for us to work and live here, but lets us enjoy living here as ordinary urban residents," Yang said.

The 37-year-old, a farmer from the village of Yangjiagou in Shangnan County in southern Shaanxi, is working for an urban road project in Xi'an. He and his family have been living in the city for five years.

There are some 400,000 farmers-turned-workers in Yanta, one of three urban districts of Xi'an.

"The new citizens will be given the same services as local residents in terms of medical care, employment, social insurance, schooling for their children and in other areas," said Yang Jianqiang, the district's deputy governor.

"And they will be provided with subsistence if they meet with difficulties."

"It is the first time in China that farmers-turned-workers have had such treatment," Shi Ying, deputy director and social expert at the Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

"It has great significance and shows the central government has been making continuous efforts to improve treatment for these workers."

Rapid industrialization and urbanization in recent years has sent millions of rural workers flocking to the cities.

However, in most cases they are not treated as ordinary urban residents.

For example, without an urban hukou, a household registration document, their children cannot go to public schools.

Li Aimin, a Xi'an resident, welcomed the new measures.

"They are doing hard work and contributing a lot to our city. They should be helped," she said.

Wang Luping, a farmer-turned-worker at a construction company in Xi'an, said the guide book also tells new citizens how to live properly in the city.

It specifically wants them to say goodbye to bad habits, such as spitting and breaking traffic rules.

"As a new citizen, I will love Xi'an as I love my home town," Wang said.

(China Daily September 1, 2006)