Ending Urban-Rural Dichotomy

By+Wang+hairong

the State Council unveiled new guidelines that reform Chinas household registration， or hukou， system on July 30， which state that urban and rural residents will no longer be registered separately， a move to put an end to a dual household registration system that has divided the nation into rural and urban populations since the 1950s.

One objective of this round of household registration reform is to help around 100 million migrant workers and other rural residents to settle in towns and cities by 2020， allowing them to enjoy public services on par with city residents， said Huang Ming， vice Minister of Ministry of Public Security， at the press conference announcing the guidelines.

Official statistics show that China had 174 million farmers who worked in cities and towns away from their home by the end of June.

another objective is to set up a more efficient household registration system， Huang said. “Such a system is expected to facilitate social management and the provision of public services as well as guaranteeing citizens rights，”he said.

The guidelines also said that towns and cities should relax restrictions on household registration according to the local conditions and expand basic public services to cover all permanent residents.

Huang said that the Central Government is carrying forward the reform with unprecedented determination. “This round of reform is distinct in that it is a comprehensive overhaul of the household registration system， whereas previous reforms were usually partial adjustments，” he said.

Unequal benefits

The guidelines mark a new step in Chinas urbanization drive. Currently， China is still going through a rapid process of urbanization. Relaxing restrictions on urban hukou will help migrant workers and their families settle in towns and cities and enjoy equal social benefits with locals.

In statistical sense， permanent urban residents refer to people that have resided in towns and cities for at least six months. They include people with or without urban hukou status.

Official data show that from 1978 to 2013， the percentage of permanent urban residents in China rose from 17.9 percent to 53.7 percent. Currently， residents with urban hukou only make up 36 percent of the total population.

In the same period， the number of cities grew from 193 to 658， with the number of townships increasing from 2，173 to 20，113.

The urbanization trend is poised to continue. In March， the State Council released the National New-Type Urbanization Plan （2014-20）， which estimated that by 2020， 60 percent of the population will be urban residents， while 45 percent of the total population will be residents with urban hukou.endprint

These data suggest that currently， 17.7 percent of the total population now live in cities and towns， but are not registered as urban residents， and hence are not entitled to welfare and benefits exclusive to those with local urban hukou.

Up until about 36 years ago， China was a planned economy， and many of its social benefits were pegged to the urban hukou such as assigned work， rationed food， medical insurance as well as pensions and free government allocated housing. On the other hand， farmers—who collectively owned land—subsisted on earnings from their land and were not covered by some social insurance programs.

as China transformed into a market economy， the government no longer assigned jobs， food， or free housing to urban residents.

In recent years， various levels of governments have made efforts to expand social benefits to cover migrant workers. For example， migrant workers signing contracts with their employers are protected under labor Contract law. Their employers are obligated to give them unemployment， work injury and basic medical insurance. In Beijing， migrant workers have been covered under the same medical insurance as other urban employees since 2012.

The Ministry of Education has also pushed public schools to accept the children of migrant workers. as of the end of 2013， China had approximately 12 million migrant children at the age of eligibility for compulsory education， more than 80 percent of whom were enrolled in the public schools of their towns and cities of residence， according to liu limin， vice Minister of Education.

Migrant children can also receive free vaccinations， said Wang Peian， vice Minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

However， some social benefits remain available to urban hukou holders only.

Students without a Beijing hukou cannot take the college admission examination in the city or be admitted into universities according to the same selection criteria as local students. a person without a Beijing hukou needs to be employed in Beijing and pay social security tax for at least five years before he or she is eligible to buy a house in Beijing.

Xinhua News agency found that rural-urban disparity still exists in 33 public services and benefit payments， including education， housing， pension， and even in compensation for traffic accidents.

although the guidelines state that citizens will no longer be classified as rural or urban under the household registration system， they do not announce immediate eliminations of the disparity in any of the aforementioned 33 items.endprint

differentiated policies

according to the guidelines， different policies will be applied in different cities. The Central Government will lift household restrictions in towns and small cities， gradually ease restrictions in medium-sized cities， and set reasonable thresholds for settling in big cities， while strictly controlling the population in the countrys megacities such as Beijing， Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In small cities and towns， “anyone who has a legal residence can register for permanent residence， even temporary tenants，” Huang said.

Medium cities with populations between half a million to 1 million can choose to have no threshold at all depending on their carrying capacity， according to the guidelines.

large cities with a population between 1 million and 5 million can set reasonable threshold， such as requiring hukou applicants to have a legal and stable job， a legal and fixed domicile and to have made social security payments for a certain period but no more than five years.

li Pumin， Secretary General of the National Development and Reform Commission， recently said that more than half of Chinas migrant workers are located in county and prefecturelevel cities， so it is important to improve transportation infrastructure and boost industry growth in these cities so as to increase their accessibility and create more jobs for migrant workers.

In megacities， migrant population grows by almost half a million every year on average， creating enormous pressures， according to Huang.

Currently， Beijing has an annual maximum hukou limit. The majority of the quota goes to fresh university graduates hired by qualified employers， such as government departments， public institutions and large firms. Now， the city admits about 10，000 new graduates every year， according to the Beijing Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security. Migrant workers can rarely get hukou， expect for when there is special authorization by the government.

li Gaofeng， a clerk in the migrant population management committee of Balizhuang Neighborhood， Chaoyang District， is one of the few lucky migrant workers to get a Beijing hukou. He was honored as a model worker by the Beijing Municipal Government and accepted as a registered permanent resident this april.

In 2001， li came to Beijing with his wife from his hometown of Fugou County， Henan Province. Over the years， he has worked a number of jobs， including as a postman and janitor. He also has a strong record of volunteer work， such as removing garbage from rivers.endprint

according to the guidelines， megacities with more than 5 million residents will introduce a point system to screen hukou applicants. Such a system has already been piloted in the megacities of Tianjin and Shanghai， as well as some cities in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. Beijing is also planning to introduce a similar framework， Huang said.

The point system was introduced in Guangdong in 2010. Under the system， an applicant scoring above 60 points out of 100 is eligible for a Guangdong hukou. The main criteria include education， skills， social insurance payment and contributions to society. Points will be deducted if an applicant has a criminal record.

Two years after the point system was implemented， 288，000 migrants and their 408，000 family members have received a hukou for one of Guangdongs towns and cities， which accounts for 2 percent of the total migrant population in the province， said Han Jun， Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

The point system puts a heavy emphasis on an applicants education， while Guangzhou plans to revise its system to give more weight to social security payments， according to Beijing Evening News.

The paper said that in Guangzhou， the competition for hukou is fierce. Meeting the threshold does not guarantee that an applicant will get a hukou， as only 3，000 are available a year.

Xu Jingyong， an economics professor with Xiamen University， said that large and megacities are more attractive to migrant workers because they have more jobs and better public services， but it is very difficult to get a hukou there. Xu said equalizing social welfare and public services between urban and rural areas is an urgent task.

Removing the distinction between urban and rural hukou is not a fundamental solution， but only a beginning， while the eventual goal is free migration and equal welfare and social insurance， said a netizen named Qingfeng.

Migrant workers should be entitled to equal public services and welfare in the places where they work and pay tax， regardless of their hukou status， said Zhang yi， Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology， Chinese academy of Social Sciences （CaSS）.

People-oriented approach

During the urbanization process， the wishes of citizens must be respected， and rural resi- dents should not feel “compelled” to go to cities， the guidelines said.endprint

The CaSS surveyed 110，000 migrant workers in 2010， asking whether or not they would prefer an urban hukou. about 80 percent of those respondents born between the 1960s and 70s said they would not， and only 25 percent of those born in the 1980s said yes. When asked if they would want to give up their contracted land in return for urban hukou， about 90 percent replied that they would not， reported the Guangdong-based Yangcheng Evening News.

In recent years， as urban residents no longer enjoy as many privileges under the market economy and rural social insurance improves， the appeal of urban hukou has reduced.

another important reason behind this disinclination is that villagers do not want to lose their rural residence and the farmland contracted to them. Farmland provides a guarantee to migrant workers. Should they lose their city jobs during an economic downturn， they can return to their home and land， said Zhang.

In China， rural housing sites and land are collectively owned by farmers. article 10 of the Constitution stipulates， “land in the cities is owned by the state. land in the rural and suburban areas is owned by collectives except for those portions which belong to the state in accordance with the law； house sites and private plots of cropland and hilly land are also owned by collectives.”

This is also stated in the land administration law， which spells out the standard compensation for rural land as appropriated by the government. In recent years， as land prices have soared， farmers have received higher compensation for land bought by the state.

To alleviate migrant workers concerns about losing their “nest eggs” back home， the guidelines state that， “at the present stage， migrant workers should not be required， as a precondition to settle in cities and get urban hukou， to give up the right of use for the contracted land and home sites， and their share of collective income.”

Farmers rights to use contracted land and housing sites should be clearly defined， registered and certified； they should only be encouraged to trade these rights willingly and in accordance with the law， the guidelines say.endprint