Guangzhou alcanza los diez mil dólares de ingreso anual per cápita

Nota de The New York Times: Guangzhou proscribirá bicicletas y otros ciclomotores para frenar la creciente delincuencia. Así, millones de personas pasarían a ver sus vehiculos en la ilegalidad.
La ciudad de Guangzhou es la primera ciudad China en alcanzar los 10.000 u$s anuales per cápita de ingreso bruto. Pero el crecimiento trae también los problemas del crecimiento caótico:

Yet cities like Guangzhou and nearby Shenzhen, which have already begun to taste real prosperity, are learning how new wealth can bring new problems and not always solve the old ones. As incomes have risen in Guangzhou, so have crime, traffic and inequality.

En una región de atracción laboral, conviven siete millones y medio de residentes locales, con casi cuatro millones de inmigrantes internos:

Inequality here is unquestionably stark between the 7.5 million registered residents and the estimated 3.7 million migrants. This week, Guangzhou had to lower its per capita income figure to $7,800; the $10,000 level had been calculated without including migrants, whose wages are notoriously low.
(...)Along Beijing Road, one of Guangzhou’s most fashionable shopping boulevards, random interviews found that nearly everyone had been robbed or knew someone who had been. Maggie Qu, 20, who recently graduated from a local technical college, said a thief stole her wallet and cellphone out of her purse two months ago. Her friend, Chen Jianguo, 21, expressed sympathy for migrants — “They are Chinese, after all” — but he blamed them for the crime problem. “They do bring crime,” Mr. Chen said. “Unemployed people and uneducated people have to make a living, so they may resort to crime.”

Las motos y bicicletas en el delito:

The vehicles, the primary mode of transport for migrant workers clawing their way up Guangzhou’s economic ladder, are also favored by criminals who have terrorized the city in recent years, including a shocking case in late 2005, when a woman had her hand cut off by a thief on a motorcycle. News accounts concluded that motorcycle thieves were divided into gangs, including one called the Hand Choppers.
(...) Of course, migrants are also responsible for performing the hard labor that generates much of the city’s economic output — just like elsewhere in China. Ye Cunhuan migrated to Guangzhou from Hubei Province in 2003 and opened four stores that sell motorized bicycles. These bikes, equipped with small motors, are popular for deliveries and also for people who cannot afford a motorcycle. Now, Ms. Ye has had to close two stores and is facing ruin.

“This has been fatal to my business,” she said.