The Chinese hukou system (户口)

As mentioned in my New Year’s Resolutions post, I want to diversify the topics that I cover in this blog. First and foremost, I believe that it’ll help me on a personal basis. I enjoy reading up on and learning about a wide variety of subjects, and I feel that writing about what I learn will help me further assimilate my newly gained knowledge. Furthermore, I think that all of the people who read this blog on a regular basis would also appreciate the fruits of my research. I’m planning on writing about things that I believe not very many people know about but that I find to be either important or interesting, such as random cultural particularities and things like that. Without further ado, let me mention today’s topic: the Chinese hukou system. 

Hukou is basically a Chinese residency permit issued depending on your place of birth. For those of you who are familiar with the American system of residency, it’s very similar to that. Having an American green card will entitle you to certain rights in the United States: education at a lower cost, certain health benefits, the ability to work, etc. The difference is that in China, a hukou will only be of value to you (guaranteeing you rights) in your place of birth. For example, if you’re a Chinese citizen that was born in Shanghai, your hukou will only be valid in Shanghai. This means that you can only study, work, and receive medical treatment in Shanghai.   

The hukou system was designed in the 1950s by Chairman Mao Zedong as a way to control the migration of Chinese citizens from rural to urban areas. We have to keep in mind that a lot of the Chinese institutions still in place today are simply remnants of the socialist era. Therefore, the hukou system was essentially aimed at regulating labor and ensuring that there would always be a constant supply of workers for all of the state-owned enterprises. 

If you take a look at the map of China’s population density above, it will become apparent that most of the country’s citizens live on the east coast, particularly in the major industrial cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou (Canton), etc. As tends to happen in all countries, especially those that experience rapid industrialization, people will seek to move to where there are more opportunities, ie, the big cities. And here is where the problem with the hukou system comes into action. Technically, it would be illegal for those possessing rural hukous to work in the urban centers. As you might imagine, this led to tragic consequences when the hukou was first implemented, as lots of people possessing rural hukous simply starved to death. 

Since then, there have been some reforms to the hukou system allowing workers from rural areas to obtain “temporary urban residency permits,” effectively allowing them to get jobs in the cities. However, migrant workers are still not given the same rights as those who possess the urban hukous. For instance, if a migrant worker wants to get treated at a hospital in Beijing, he/she would have to pay out of pocket, whereas a person originally from Beijing would have health coverage guaranteed by the government. Also, if a migrant worker wishes to send his children to a public school in Beijing, he must pay a certain amount of money, called a “voluntary contribution,” whereas someone possessing a Beijing hukou wouldn’t have to pay a thing. In case that they didn’t want to make a “contribution,” they would have to send their children to private schools, which would obviously be an extra financial burden. Furthermore, it’s very difficult for migrant workers to find decent, affordable housing in the big cities and their landlords usually take advantage of them by making them pay a significantly larger fee than they would a person with an urban hukou. Also, it is extremely hard for migrant workers to find jobs, and they usually end up at labor-intensive plants that pay them significantly less than they would a local worker. All of this leads to not only a large degree of inequality, but it also creates a large group of very frustrated individuals - individuals who claim that they don’t feel accepted and are discriminated against, who miss the families that they’ve left behind, and who, in many cases, become suicidal.  

Nowadays, it is estimated that there are anywhere from 150 million to 250 million migrant workers in China. This figure is expected to increase to 400 million by 2025. In other words, we’re dealing with a huge percentage of the population. As is, there are about 30,000 protests by migrant workers a year. The Chinese government knows that it would do well to reform the hukou system in order to prevent further instability. In fact, for many of the aforementioned riots, the Chinese police simply turns a blind eye and tolerates them. 

Still, there is a way for those who have a rural hukou to obtain an urban one. However, it is extremely difficult and only happens in the most extraordinary of cases. In order to apply for an urban hukou, a person must meet very specific criteria, such as: have a high level of education, possess a certificate of ownership of property in the city, be the recipient of several awards and certifications, etc. So that you can get an idea of how hard it is to be issued a new hukuo, it is estimated that out of the 7 million migrant workers in Guangzhou, only 3000 have been issued new urban residency permits.

China has built up its economy on the backs of these migrant workers who are subjected to subpar wages, deplorable working conditions, and discrimination. The hukou system must be reformed not only for the sake of these migrant workers, but also for the sake of China’s stability. Some analysts claim that China’s limits on social mobility are also placing limits on its economic development. They insist that the hukou system doesn’t allow for the most effective distribution of workers and that those who have the necessary skills for a job are often overlooked simply because of their place of origin. That said, it is understood that the Chinese government simply could not eradicate the hukou system from one day to the next. This would surely lead to a massive wave of rural-urban migration that could have devastating effects, as cities would struggle to sustain their ever-growing populations. 

I believe that reforms to the hukou system are not only necessary, but inevitable. China has a whole plethora of social problems that when put together are a recipe for a very unhappy and unsatisfied population. I would suggest that the Chinese government start relaxing the hukou system little by little, before it finds a more effective way of regulating its labor.  For instance, once a migrant worker has lived in a city for 6 months, proving that he is making a valuable contribution to society, he would be entitled to certain rights, which would only grow in proportion to the amount of time that he has lived there. Once a migrant worker has been living in the city for a prolonged period of time (maybe a year or two years), and as long as they’ve been a righteous citizen (paying taxes, maintaining a clean police record, etc.), he could finally be issued a new urban residency permit.  

As someone who is currently in a migratory process, I completely understand the plight of the Chinese worker who wishes to move in order to seek out better opportunities. However, it is still bizarre to see that such strict migratory rules exist within a single country, especially one with such an exemplary economic performance. Clearly, the Chinese government is still working out many of the kinks in their social institutions. We can only hope that change for the hukou system comes sooner rather than later, but we also have remember that this is only one of China’s many social problems. Either way, China makes a very interesting case study and we would all do well to keep an eye on its progress.