Migrant Workers in Beijing Feel Pinch of Ride-Hailing Shake-Up

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Winter came early to an urban village on the outskirts of Beijing， whose 5，000 residents have been losing their jobs for months as the city government redefines ride-hailing and the sector’s biggest company cuts driver subsidies.

"Look over there ― those men are all Didi drivers，" said a fruit vendor in Houchangcun village in the northwestern part of Beijing， pointing at a group of men playing poker under a tree during the daytime.

More and more Houchangcun residents， most of whom come from the southwest municipality of Chongqing， have been sitting idle at home in recent months as subsidies gradually dry up and the government tightens regulations on the industry under pressure from state-owned taxi operators.

Nestled in Beijing’s buzzing Zhongguancun district ― an area for a growing class of tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists ― the 15，000-square-meter Houchangcun has become home for migrant workers from Chongqing’s Pengshui county who left their hometown in the early 1990s in pursuit of a better life.

Most of the migrant workers built a life in the city by working for moving companies. Years of physical work wore down their bodies. Zuo， a 46-year-old driver for Didi who gave only his family name， rolled up one of his trouser legs to show a bulge on his knee， an injury he suffered from carrying heavy loads.

So when ride-hailing superpowers like Uber Technologies Inc. and Didi Chuxing doled out generous subsidies to drivers in the past few years in an effort to secure a slice of the cutthroat industry， Zhu and his fellow villagers saw an opportunity to improve their quality of life. Since the beijing government has a strict quota on local license plates， they returned to Chongqing， took out loans， bought cars there and drove back to Beijing， joining the tens of millions of ride-hailing drivers in the country.

However， subsidies ebbed after Uber sold its Chinese operations to Didi in exchange for a 20% share in the merged company. Li， another resident of Houchangcun who goes by his family name， saw his revenue drop from more than 10，000 yuan（$1，450） a month to about 5，000 yuan. He quit earlier this year.

Wang Xudong， a Didi driver in Beijing’s Houchangcun village， checks orders on his Didi app on Nov.11. Most Didi drivers in Houchangcun start work at night because they cannot drive into downtown Beijing during the day unless their cars hold local licences.