Thursday, March 23, 2017

Great articles on China's hukou system

That's Magazine - Pearl River Delta edition has two great articles about China's hukou system, the home registration system that has been called an "internal passport" and de facto caste system. The systems are much more complicated than I knew before, and the articles show how many idiosyncratic rules exist for getting a hukou from particular cities like Beijing. Point systems, fees, residency requirements, etc. It also looks at potential advantages to having a rural hukou, which is usually talked about in the media as a ticket to a tough life. Notably, it says:

"The points system is merely one in a series of reforms announced in 2014 that promised to 'phase out' the hukou altogether – something Xi Jinping himself allegedly advocated years ago in his doctoral thesis while serving as governor of Fujian."
The Hukou: Is China’s ‘Internal Passport’ System Here to Stay?
http://www.thatsmags.com/uploads/pdf/1703sz.pdf

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