BEIJING - district, a suburb of Beijing and the capital's "subsidiary administrative center", has introduced new rules to control the number of its residents.

Since Friday, new rules have applied to those who are already registered in other parts of the capital and who desire a Tongzhou hukou.

According to Tongzhou government, no more local hukou will be given for nonresidential properties and, those who own two or more homes in the city will be given a local hukou only after confirmation that their Tongzhou home is their main residence.

Hukou determines where residents can access educational and social welfare services.

Beijing is shifting some local administrative functions out of the city center and into Tongzhou to address congestion and pollution.

Tongzhou had over 870,000 registered residents in December. Vice mayor Li Shixiang said the upper limit would be two million, declaring that the "urban ills" which infect the original center, must not be passed on to the subsidiary.