Major Chinese city unifies household registration
Updated: 2013-05-09 23:27
(Xinhua)
|
||||||||
BEIJING - South China's city of Guangzhou's latest move to unify household registration information has sparked discussion on the reform of China's household registration ("hukou") system.
The city government announced on Monday that it will swap out residents' old residence registration booklets for new booklets that will classify all residents under a single category. The previous booklets categorized residents as coming from "agricultural households" or "non-agricultural households".
The booklets contain information on all members of a given household. The document is the most important form of identification in China.
In China, household registration is tied to one's place of residence and is used to obtain access to basic welfare and services. The way the registration is categorized has created an urban-rural divide, with rural residents unable to obtain benefits after moving to urban areas.
Guangzhou's move is speculated to be the first in a series of efforts to lift restrictions on access to urban public services for rural people.
Similar reforms have also been carried out in 10 provincial-level regions, including southwest China's Chongqing and south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
Compared with Beijing and Shanghai, Guangzhou will likely confront less resistance in deepening household registration reform, as its urban and rural residents' income gap is small, said Peng Zhenhuai, head of a research institute specializing in local governments at Peking University.
But experts are warning that the reform could become a mere formality.
Although making the household registration system less divisive is important, it is even more important to realize equity in basic rights for urban and rural people, according to Dang Guoying, a researcher with the Rural Development Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Peng said the government should focus on problems rural people face regarding social insurance, medical care and education.
They said the core of China's hukou system reform is to gradually eliminate the gap between urban and rural people and lower the threshold for rural residents to settle down in cities.
In February 2012, the central government issued a circular urging local governments to advance household registration system reform and to refrain from linking employment and education policies with household registration.
Providing more public services to migrant workers will have significant influence on modernization and China's overall progress, said Chen Jian, deputy head of the China Society of Economic Reform.
- Michelle lays roses at site along Berlin Wall
- Historic space lecture in Tiangong-1 commences
- 'Sopranos' Star James Gandolfini dead at 51
- UN: Number of refugees hits 18-year high
- Slide: Jet exercises from aircraft carrier
- Talks establish fishery hotline
- Foreign buyers eye Chinese drones
- UN chief hails China's peacekeepers
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Pumping up power of consumption |
From China with love and care |
From the classroom to the boardroom |
Schools open overseas campus |
Domestic power of new energy |
Clearing the air |
Today's Top News
Shenzhou X astronaut gives lecture today
US told to reassess duties on Chinese paper
Chinese seek greater share of satellite market
Russia rejects Obama's nuke cut proposal
US immigration bill sees Senate breakthrough
Brazilian cities revoke fare hikes
Moody's warns on China's local govt debt
Air quality in major cities drops in May
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |