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Hukou reform reduces urban, rural inequalities
By Bai Xu and Cao Yan |
December 1, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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HE has been in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province for eight years, where he worked his way up from a delivery man who was too poor to buy a cotton overcoat to the owner of a large shoe store.
But 28-year-old Huang Zhixiong is still registered as a farmer in his household register.
A great success in the eyes of his fellow villagers in Fujian, Huang said his family of three still lives in a rented 50-square-meter apartment. "Because I am not an urban citizen, I am not entitled to low-rent housing or economically affordable housing the city government provides," he said with bitterness.
Unlike urban residents in the city, he had no social security, medical insurance or old-age insurance in Shenyang. This inequality, however, is about to disappear in a city in southwest China.
The government of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, announced on November 16 that it will enforce a uniform household registry system, or hukou, for farmers and urban citizens alike, as a step to eliminate imbalances.
By 2012, urban and rural residents in the city will enjoy the same rights and be free to move between downtown areas and countryside, making Chengdu the first city in the country to eliminate the difference between the rural and urban hukou.
China launched the hukou system 52 years ago to reduce the mobility of people and maintain social order. According to the regulation, people's basic rights and social welfare were attached to their hukou. Residents without a local hukou are not entitled to medical or social insurance from local governments and their children are not allowed to attend public school, unless they pay extra fees.
The system was helpful before the nation launched opening up and reform policies, when budgets from the central government were limited. However, it is becoming an obstacle to the country's urbanization as the population of migrants reached 211 million by the end of 2009, according to a report from the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China.
In some places, a local hukou can be acquired if one buys property or invests a large sum of money. But changing their hukou means that farmers have to give up their farmland back in their hometown.
In Chengdu, however, farmers don't have to give up their land while enjoying other public services, said Qin Daihong, an official of Chengdu government. "They are not entering cities 'bare-foot,' but with their shoes on."
"This is the most comprehensive hukou reform in China in recent years," said Lu Xueyi, a well-known sociologist. "The new policy not only allows farmers to go into cities, but encourages urban citizens to go to the countryside."
However, Chengdu's plan aroused concerns about farmers rushing to the city. Some people also feared that rich people in cities and real estate developers would start a new round of "enclosure movements" in the countryside.
"The high housing price in cities was prohibitive to farmers, but urban citizens may flood to the countryside to breathe the fresh air," said a comment by resident Ding Nan on a local website in Sichuan. "If this happens, can we ensure that the size of arable land will not be reduced?"
But 28-year-old Huang Zhixiong is still registered as a farmer in his household register.
A great success in the eyes of his fellow villagers in Fujian, Huang said his family of three still lives in a rented 50-square-meter apartment. "Because I am not an urban citizen, I am not entitled to low-rent housing or economically affordable housing the city government provides," he said with bitterness.
Unlike urban residents in the city, he had no social security, medical insurance or old-age insurance in Shenyang. This inequality, however, is about to disappear in a city in southwest China.
The government of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, announced on November 16 that it will enforce a uniform household registry system, or hukou, for farmers and urban citizens alike, as a step to eliminate imbalances.
By 2012, urban and rural residents in the city will enjoy the same rights and be free to move between downtown areas and countryside, making Chengdu the first city in the country to eliminate the difference between the rural and urban hukou.
China launched the hukou system 52 years ago to reduce the mobility of people and maintain social order. According to the regulation, people's basic rights and social welfare were attached to their hukou. Residents without a local hukou are not entitled to medical or social insurance from local governments and their children are not allowed to attend public school, unless they pay extra fees.
The system was helpful before the nation launched opening up and reform policies, when budgets from the central government were limited. However, it is becoming an obstacle to the country's urbanization as the population of migrants reached 211 million by the end of 2009, according to a report from the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China.
In some places, a local hukou can be acquired if one buys property or invests a large sum of money. But changing their hukou means that farmers have to give up their farmland back in their hometown.
In Chengdu, however, farmers don't have to give up their land while enjoying other public services, said Qin Daihong, an official of Chengdu government. "They are not entering cities 'bare-foot,' but with their shoes on."
"This is the most comprehensive hukou reform in China in recent years," said Lu Xueyi, a well-known sociologist. "The new policy not only allows farmers to go into cities, but encourages urban citizens to go to the countryside."
However, Chengdu's plan aroused concerns about farmers rushing to the city. Some people also feared that rich people in cities and real estate developers would start a new round of "enclosure movements" in the countryside.
"The high housing price in cities was prohibitive to farmers, but urban citizens may flood to the countryside to breathe the fresh air," said a comment by resident Ding Nan on a local website in Sichuan. "If this happens, can we ensure that the size of arable land will not be reduced?"
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