Feb 26, 20 the hukou system has existed in various forms in china for 2,500 years. The hukou, or household registration system, goes hand in hand with certain rights, especially for residents of big cities, who can enjoy freedoms like electing their district representative, holding a bank account, purchasing local property at a lower rate, and accessing education and retirement pension. It comes down, instead, to a little brown book, the hukou pronounced hookoh document, part of a householdregistration system that creates distinctions between urban haves and havenots that. The difficulty of changing that registration, commonly knows as a persons hukou, has left many migrants unable to fully benefit from public services for education and health. Household registration books to be scrapped by 2020. Hukou is a system of household registration in mainland china and taiwan, although the system itself is more properly called huji, and has origins in ancient china. The communist party came to power in china in 1949. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
Registration is required by law under the peoples republic of china. The hukou system was created in cities in the prc in 1951 and expanded to rural areas by 1955. He is a leading expert on chinas urbanization, migration, and the household registration hukou system, and author of an important work on chinas urbanization. Beijing launches pointbased hukou system xinhua english. The household registration system hukou was introduced in china to regulate the number of people moving from rural to urban areas.
The system itself is more properly called huji, and has origins in ancient china. The household registration book, ho khau in vietnamese, has been in effect since the 1960s as an instrument of public security, economic planning, and control of migration, similarly to chinas hukou. How a little brown book can keep chinas lovers worlds apart in china, a householdregistration system called hukou decides migrants social status, where they can afford to live and who they. Hukou serves as an identity proof for citizens, recording their basic information and permanent residence. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading urbanization with chinese characteristics. In 1985, the hukou system was manifested through the provision of personal identity cards. Functions of the household hukou registration system in. Oct 11, 20 as a key step in realizing these objectives li has prioritized dismantling the twotier class system that has emerged in chinas cities, namely reform of the hukou household registration system. China announced earlier this week that it would grant household registration permits, or hukou, to million undocumented chinese citizens who have been living on the margins of society. The barriers in chinas system of household registration, or hukou, date to maos era.
This book explores the changes and reforms of the hukou system by. Taiwans household registration system disenfranchises its. Jan 17, 2019 in this article, we look at how the hukou system works in china, and why employers should seek to understand them. Established in the late 1950s, it was initially used to bar rural. Hukou is a system of household registration used in mainland china.
Household registration, urban status attainment, and. One distinguishing characteristic of life for chinese citizens has been chinas longantiquated hukou, or household registration system, which for decades classified people as urban nonagricultural or rural agricultural and outsiderinsider according to where they were born, not where they reside. In taiwan, this system operates mostly as census tool, providing demographic information about residents in each region. The chinese hukou system at 50 university of washington. How a little brown book can keep chinas lovers worlds. The household registration system and migrant labor in china. Interpreting chinese hukou system from a foucauldian perspective.
Over the course of this mass internal migration, china has played catchup with its household registration system, hukou, which divides citizens between urban and rural residencies. The reform of chinas hukou system seems to be gathering momentum. Jul 14, 2017 the hukou system is a governmental household registration system. A onestop service for hukou, or permanent residence, is to be launched on thursday on the website of the shanghai human resources and social security bureau as data is now shared among government departments, it said, employers and employees need not submit material such as business licenses, certificates for hightech enterprises, records of social insurance payments and education. The chinese hukou system explained what is hukou and how. A household registration record officially identifies a person as a resident of an area and includes identifying information such as name, parents, spouse, and date of birth. Nonchinese getting married in china chinahighlights. This is where household registration comes into play. In its early forms, the household registration system was used primarily for the purposes of taxation and conscription, as well as regulating migration.
In the late 1950s, the system was instituted to keep famished peasants from pouring into cities. For example, if the parents hold an agricultural hukou all their descendants would also hold a rural hukou. The household registration system hukou system plays a key role in socially managing and perpetuating this dualistic structure, as a consequence that practice and implications of social policies. Implemented in 1958, this system requires every citizen of china to be registered. Jul 31, 2014 the barriers in chinas system of household registration, or hukou, date to maos era.
A renewed push for reform of the household registration system raises familier questions about population control and urban migration, caixin online reports. Henan unifies household registration in hukou reform. China is lowering hukou rules, can foreigners get a hukou. Vietnams household registration system english the world. Two early models of the hukou system were the xiangsui and baojia systems.
Migrants expenditure is depressed by institutional constraints in urban china abstract this paper provides a new explanation for chinas extremely low consumptiontogdp ratio, highlighting the constraints of the household registration system hukou on chinas household consumption. Since 1998, children can choose to inherit either their mother or fathers hukou location and type. The party had a few potential road blocks to steer clear. This and the other principal documents defining the formation of the hukou system are translated and assessed in cheng, tiejun, the dialectics of control. A family register is a civil registry used in many countries to track information of a genealogical.
The household registration system or the hukou has been central to society in china for decades, originally designed to limit mass migration from the countryside to the cities and ensure structural stability to the country post1949. Govt vows freer movement for workers by relaxing hukou. Records of hukou like programs of household registration for defense purposes date back to the semimythical shang and zhou dynasties around the 5th and 6th centuries b. Through a role play based on members of a family featured in rob schmitzs book street of eternal happiness, students explore the ways that the household registration system, or hukou has affected the lives of a family from the rural province of shandong. The hukou system, or household registration system, is a system of residence permits unique to china, dating back over 2,000 years. The legacy of the chinese hukou system may be traced back to the predynastic era, as early as the 21st century bc. The local authority issues to each household a household registration book or s. Each citizen is issued a household register under supervision of the ministry of public security, chinas police. Executive summary chinas hukou household registration system has imposed strict limits on ordinary chinese citizens changing their permanent place of. The chinese hukou system explained what is hukou and. Pooling the data from two national probability surveys in china cgss 2003 and 2008, we investigate socioeconomic. The beijing municipal bureau of human resources and social security will select 6,000 people with the most points out of 106,403 nonnative applicants to be awarded the citys hukou, or household. The hukou, or household registration system, goes hand in hand with certain rights, especially for residents of big cities, who can enjoy freedoms like electing their district representative. The hukou household registration system chinese studies.
Oct 10, 2016 one distinguishing characteristic of life for chinese citizens has been chinas longantiquated hukou, or household registration system, which for decades classified people as urban nonagricultural or rural agricultural and outsiderinsider according to where they were born, not where they reside. In taiwan, this system operates mostly as census tool, providing demographic. Although there were many changes beginning in the early 1980s, the system remains unchanged currently. Under the leadership of mao zedong, one of the governments goals was to create economic stability between the countrys large rural farming population and the growing urban areas. Begun in the 1950s as a way for the government to distribute. In china, a householdregistration system called hukou decides migrants social status, where they can afford to live and who they marry. Despite the pronounced income inequalities escalating after economic reforms, the stringent hukou household registration system consolidates the rigid social hierarchy in china, characterized by. China eyes residence permits to replace divisive hukou system.
Dec 11, 2015 china announced earlier this week that it would grant household registration permits, or hukou, to million undocumented chinese citizens who have been living on the margins of society. Wu zhicheng, a beijing resident who has no hukou, checks a paper that may help him reinstate his household registration in january. For young voters, this often means their familys home. This book is the first comprehensive examination of chinas hukou household registration system. The hukou system is the household registration system in china. China introduced the hukou system in 1958 a hukou book was assigned to each household to classify the residents hukou by their place of origin. Previous studies on the household registration system hukou have focused either on the selective process of hukou conversion to urban status and its impact on social stratification or on the socioeconomic disadvantages and the assimilation of rural migrant workers in cities. In the postwar period, the book was used as a means to ration food and allocate jobs under the then planned economy. A family register also known in several variations, such as household register and family album, and, when discussing nonanglophone countries, the nativelanguage names of the registers such as koseki in japan, familienbuch in germany, and hukou in china is a civil registry used in many countries to track information of a genealogical or familycentric legal interest. The hukou system in the peoples republic china refers to the household registration system required by law to officially identify a person as a resident of a certain area. Chinas hukou household registration system has imposed strict limits on. It basically gives rural hukou holders access to land while granting social entitlements to urban hukou holders. As a legal document that is attached to ones household registration, the hukou is also inherited.
Jun 22, 2018 chinas hukou system was introduced in 1958 as a modern means of population registration. Taiwans hukou system, introduced during the japanese occupation of the island, mandates in modern times that voters are assigned the polling station closest to the address on their citizen id card. The hukou book, which records attributes of a household, has been dubbed chinas no. Notes on a debate kam wing chan for more than half a century, the hukou household registration system in china has segregated the rural and urban populations, initially in geographical terms, but more fundamentally in social, economic, and political terms. Nov 17, 2014 an old man holds his hukou book household register before the camera. Modeled after the chinese hukou system and originally used in urban areas only, h. Chinas hukou system was introduced in 1958 as a modern means of population registration.
The municipal government said the pointbased household registration system will be open for applications between april 16 and june 14. Cracking chinas hukou code for urbanization marketwatch. Its main functions were to control the migration of people and to help enforce the one child family planning policy. By the end of 2017, the number of people holding beijing hukou reached. How a little brown book can keep chinas lovers worlds apart. The hukou system is a household registration system, which splits the population into urban and rural residents. As the first published comprehensive examination of chinas hukou household registration system, feiling wangs book has certainly made a significant. Originally created in 1958, the system intends to control population within china and to ensure adequate agricultural production. Vietnams household registration system english abstract. Henan unifies household registration in hukou reform china. Regulations of the peoples republic of china on hukou registration zhonghua renmin gongheguo hukou dengji tiaoli, issued 9 january 58, art.
If anyone is interested the household registration extract hukou that i provided was accepted. Since 1958, china has been operating a quasiapartheid system, which is known officially as hukou the household registration system that divides the. Law on guarding of state secrets and household registration system undermine rule of law and social justice. The hukou system is a household registration system implemented in china. The household registration hukou system in china, classifying each person as a rural or an urban resident, is a major means of controlling population mobility and determining eligibility for state. The household registration system known as ho khau has been a part of the fabric of life in the country for over 50 years.
This system requires every chinese citizen to be officially and constantly registered with the hukou police from birth. An old man holds his hukou book household register before the camera. While many countries allow voting by mail or by proxy, taiwans election laws only permit people to cast their ballots in person at the station closest to their registered address. The hukou system is a governmental household registration system. A family register also known in several variations, such as household register and family album, and, when discussing non anglophone countries, the nativelanguage names of the registers such as koseki in japan, familienbuch in germany, and hukou in china is a civil registry used in many countries to track information of a genealogical or familycentric legal interest. Discrimination and reform on friday, september 2, from 2. Chinas new leaders are planning a system of national residence permits to replace the household registration or hukou regime, a government source said, a vital reform that will boost its. Wu said he lost his hukou 43 years ago because of a mistake that. Pdf interpreting chinese hukou system from a foucauldian. The household registration system and migrant labor in china jstor.
An individual households register or hukou booklet. Hukou is a system of household registration in china. Chinas hukou system hukou zhidu household registration system. It was set up as a part of the economic and social reforms of the initial years of the communist regime. Transcript the congressionalexecutive commission on china held another in its series of staffled issues roundtables, entitled chinas household registration hukou system. Mar 06, 20 chinas new leaders are planning a system of national residence permits to replace the household registration or hukou regime, a government source said, a vital reform that will boost its.
Migrant schools in beijing face murky future citylab. He has published four books, two coedited volumes, and over 50 journal articles, book chapters, and monographs in five languages. The system was implemented as an instrument of public security, economic planning, and control of migration, at a time when the. Share this page responses to information requests immigration. How a little brown book can keep chinas lovers worlds apart the. Reinterpreting urbanization in post1949 china oxford university press, 1994. I still have no idea what the seal of the household registration in red ink is but i suspect it might just be the stamp that shows that the document is from the department of household registration that was on mine but in blue ink. Henan province issued a guideline on november 12 to unify the hukou system. Taiwans voting laws are tethered to its hukou, or household registration, system. China eyes residence permits to replace divisive hukou. The origins and social consequences of chinas hukou.
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