Hukou

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Revision as of 08:41, 7 September 2010 by 172.16.14.149 (talk)

The hukou system, or Household Registration System, is a system of residence permits unique to China, dating back over 2,000 years. It identifies a person as a resident of a particular area of the country and includes basic information such as date of birth and marital status.

The information is kept in a hard-covered book called the hukou bu. Each family normally has one book containing entries for each family member. But collective hukous are sometimes issued to people who are not from the same family. For example, a firm in Beijing may maintain a collective hukou bu for employees who are not originally from Beijing.

There is a major divide between rural and urban residence permits. Not only are the two registration systems regulated differently, but people with urban hukous have advantages over rural residents in almost every aspect of life.

Nowadays with mass migration of the population from rural areas to cities, the hukou system has become outdated and perpetuates great unfairness, especially regarding entitlements to housing and education. Some delegates to the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have proposed the abolition of the system and allowing people to choose freely where to settle. But there is strong opposition from others who say that because China is still a developing country, abolition would lead to social chaos.

China is currently conducting its sixth national population census. According to Zhang Yi, a researcher from the Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, huge numbers of people already live away from their officially registered places of residence.