Beijing gives migrant workers their marching orders

For the past five years, Ms. Peng has worked as a cleaner in a Beijing office block. It was a tiring, low-paying job – the kind that is easily overlooked but essential in cities around the world.

Beijing is no different. Over the past four decades, millions of migrants have flocked here from poor rural China in the hope of finding a better life. They have built the city’s gleaming new skyscrapers, they have cared for its children, and they have sold and delivered its groceries, among other services.

While the municipal government has hardly welcomed the newcomers – denying them basic rights such as free public education and health care

Evicted for their own good?If they don't do the work, who will?