Changes to China's detention regulations seem to mean that the police can no longer arrest and force beggars or anyone without an ID card to leave town.

"We have to send them - if they are willing to go - to a welfare centre according to article five of the new regulations," said Zhu Wenguang, an official with Huangpu District Police Bureau. "If they say no, we have no right to force them to go."

Police are also obliged to help anyone who is homeless or disabled and any wandering children and elderly people and send them to welfare centres.

But the number of people admitted to welfare centres in the city in recent weeks is quite low. The centre in Xuhui District received only two "guests" in the first week of the month, according to the director of the centre, surnamed Ao.

Under the new regulations, officials have to give those who cannot afford a ticket for their journey home, a certificate to cover the cost of the trip by train or bus.

"It is a new situation now that the system has been changed," he said. "We have no experience to follow, so everything has to be worked out on a day-to-day basis. But one thing is certain: we must treat these people in a kind way."

The new regulations also lay down strict rules covering food, residential conditions, medical treatment, and contact with family members.

Zhang Henian, a researcher with the Population Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said the former detention system should not have been abolished until a workable new system had been set up.

"It's such a big issue in China because of the huge size of the floating population and you can't say we will improve it by looking at it on a day-to-day basis. It's been too sudden and there should have been a better designed system ready to start," he said.

The problem with the old system was not with the system itself but with the bad way it was implemented and the poor quality of the staff.

No detailed regulations had been worked out to support the new system. The conditions and facilities inside the centres have to be improved, but to what level, nobody knows.

"Where will those people go and what will they do? We don't know," Zhang said.

It made no difference whether the centres were for detention or to perform welfare work - they should be refuges where people who have lost or who haven't any ID cards can go. When they get a new ID card, they should be free to go, Zhang said.

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