Hukou

Hukou
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese户口
Traditional Chinese戶口
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese户籍
Traditional Chinese戶籍
Tibetan name
Tibetanཐེམ་ཐོ
Uyghur name
Uyghurنوپۇس

Hukou (Chinese: 户口; lit. 'household individual') is a system of household registration used in mainland China. The system itself is more properly called "huji" (Chinese: 户籍; lit. 'household origin'), and has origins in ancient China; hukou is the registration of an individual in the system (kou literally means "mouth", which originates from the practise of regarding family members as "mouths to feed", similar to the phrase "per head" in English). A household registration record officially identifies a person as a permanent resident of an area and includes identifying information such as name, parents, spouse and date of birth. A hukou can also refer to a family register in many contexts since the household register (simplified Chinese: 户口簿; traditional Chinese: 戶口簿; pinyin: hùkǒu bù) is issued per family, and usually includes the births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and moves, of all members in the family.

The system descends in part from ancient Chinese household registration systems. The hukou system also influenced similar systems within the public administration structures of neighboring East Asian countries, such as Japan (koseki) and Korea (hoju), as well as the Southeast Asian country Vietnam (hộ khẩu).[1][2][3] In South Korea, the hoju system was abolished in January 2008.[4] While unrelated in origin, propiska in the Soviet Union and resident registration in Russia had a similar purpose and served as a model for modern China's hukou system.[5][6]

Due to its connection to social programs provided by the government, which assigns benefits based on agricultural and non-agricultural residency status (often referred to as rural and urban), the hukou system is sometimes likened to a form of caste system.[7][8][9] It has been the source of much inequality over the decades since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, as urban residents received benefits that ranged from retirement pension to education to health care, while rural citizens were often left to fend for themselves.[10][11] In recent years,[when?] the central government has begun to reform the system in response to protests and a changing economic system, while some Western experts question whether these changes have been of substance.[12][13]

  1. ^ Liu, Laura Blythe (2016). Teacher Educator International Professional Development as Ren. Springer. p. 37. ISBN 978-3662516485.
  2. ^ Miller, Tom (2012). China's Urban Billion: The Story behind the Biggest Migration in Human History. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1780321417.
  3. ^ Kroeber, Arthur R. (2016). China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know?. Oxford University Press. pp. 73–75. ISBN 978-0190239039.
  4. ^ Koh, Eunkang (2008). "Gender issues and Confucian scriptures: Is Confucianism incompatible with gender equality in South Korea?". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 71 (2): 345–362. doi:10.1017/s0041977x08000578. JSTOR 40378774.
  5. ^ Liu, Li; Kuang, Lei (2012). Denson, Tom (ed.). "Discrimination against Rural-to-Urban Migrants: The Role of the Hukou System in China". PLOS ONE. 7 (11). PLOS (published 5 November 2012): e46932. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...746932K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046932. PMC 3489849. PMID 23144794.
  6. ^ Guo, Zhonghua; Guo, Sujian (2015). Theorizing Chinese Citizenship. Lexington Books (published 15 October 2015). p. 104. ISBN 978-1498516693.
  7. ^ "Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance", by Elizabeth J. Perry, Mark Selden, page 90
  8. ^ "China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society", p. 86, by Daniel A. Bell
  9. ^ "Trust and Distrust: Sociocultural Perspectives", p. 63, by Ivana Marková, Alex Gillespie
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Lu, Rachel (31 July 2014). "China Is Ending Its 'Apartheid.' Here's Why No One Is Happy About It". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  13. ^ Sheehan, Spencer (22 February 2017). "China's Hukou Reforms and the Urbanization Challenge". The Diplomat. Retrieved 14 August 2018.

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