Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:45:50.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Guarding a New Great Wall: The Politics of Household Registration Reforms and Public Provision in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2022

Ren-Jie Hong ,
Yu-Chi Tseng  and
Thung-Hong Lin
Ren-Jie Hong*
Affiliation:
Binghamton University, SUNY, New York, USA.
Yu-Chi Tseng
Affiliation:
Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Email: [email protected].
Thung-Hong Lin
Affiliation:
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. Email: [email protected].
*
Email: [email protected] (corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The household registration (hukou) system has been widely recognized as a key contributory factor to social inequality and tensions in China yet it remains intact despite a series of institutional reforms. What explains the resilience of the system? In this study, we address this puzzle by drawing on policy documents, statistical data and interviews. We argue that the hukou system remains because it is used to protect the beneficiaries of welfare provision and to ensure pivotal groups continue to offer political support. We find that owing to the reforms, a formidable barrier has been erected between the guarded cities and other regions to protect healthcare and education resources from inbound migrant workers. Consequently, the institutional reforms of the hukou system serve as a political contrivance for the survival of the Chinese party-state regime. The findings contribute to emerging literature on China's political control by elaborating political elites’ subtle tactics through various institutions at central and local levels. We expect the new “Great Wall” established under Xi's administration to be an even stronger barrier than before for migrants during the current pandemic and in the future.

摘要

摘要

中国的户籍制度被认为是许多社会不平等与衝突的来源，但是在数十年的制度改革之后，户籍制度仍然有没废除的迹象，我们该如何解释户籍制度的韧性？本文透过政策文件、统计资料和访谈，发现由于最好的教育及医疗资源大量集中在大城市，户籍制度的存在，使政治菁英得以透过严格控制大城市户籍来保障既有的城市居民的福利，以换取政权的稳定。因此，户籍制度改革虽然取消了二元身份的区分，但是改以城市规模作为开放户籍的标准，其实是筑起了新的高牆，用来阻挡甚至驱逐不具城市户籍的流动人口。我们认为在新冠病毒的疫情影响之下，在可见的未来，由于医疗资源稀缺，这些大城市的落户标准可能更加严格。

Keywords

household registration (hukou)urbanizationwelfare provisionmigrant workersChina户籍制度城市化福利分配流动人口中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 251 , September 2022 , pp. 776 - 797
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreas, Joel. 2009. Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. 2017. “Beijingshi chengxiang jumin jiben yiliao baoxian banfa shishixize” (The implementing regulations on the basic medical insurance for rural–urban residents in Beijing), 22 December, http://www.mohrss.gov.cn/SYrlzyhshbzb/shehuibaozhang/gzdt/201712/t20171222_284835.html. Accessed 7 August 2021.Google Scholar
Bian, Yanjie. 1994. Work and Inequality in Urban China. New York: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, Smith, Alastair, Siverson, Randolph and Morrow, James. 2003. The Logic of Political Survival. London: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/4292.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Fang. 2020. “How COVID-19 may accelerate hukou reform in China.” East Asian Forum, 20 October, https://reurl.cc/vqvXQy. Accessed 20 June 2021.Google Scholar
Cai, Yongshun. 2006. State and Laid-off Workers in Reform China: The Silence and Collective Action of the Retrenched. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CCP Central Committee Organization Department (ed.). 1999. Zhongguo ganbu tongji wushi nian (Fifty Years of Statistical Materials on Cadres). Beijing: Dangjian duwu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Chan, Kam Wing. 2009. “The Chinese hukou system at 50.” Eurasian Geography and Economics 50(2), 197–221.10.2747/1539-7216.50.2.197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Kam Wing, and Buckingham, Will. 2008. “Is China abolishing the hukou system?” The China Quarterly 195, 582–606.10.1017/S0305741008000787CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Kam Wing, and Wan, Guanghua. 2017. “The size distribution and growth pattern of cities in China, 1982–2010: analysis and policy implications.” Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 22(1), 136–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Kam Wing, and Wei, Yanning. 2019. “Two systems in one country: the origin, functions, and mechanisms of the rural–urban dual system in China.” Eurasian Geography and Economics 60(4), 422–454. DOI: 10.1080/15387216.2019.1669203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Kam Wing, and Zhang, Li. 1999. “The hukou system and rural–urban migration: processes and changes.” The China Quarterly 160, 818–855.10.1017/S0305741000001351CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Che, Lei, Du, Haifeng and Chan, Kam Wing. 2020. “Unequal pain: a sketch of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on migrants’ employment in China.” Eurasian Geography and Economics 61(4–5), 448–463.10.1080/15387216.2020.1791726CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, Honggen, Huang, Huiqing and Xiao, Wenfeng. 2007. “Huji gaige buneng yiqian lezhi ying zheyan chengshi zonghe peitao gaige” (Hukou reform should focus on general supplemental policies in cities). Outlook Weekly 2, 6–9.Google Scholar
Cheng, Tiejun, and Selden, Mark. 1994. “The origin and social consequences of China's hukou system.” The China Quarterly 139, 644–668.10.1017/S0305741000043083CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickson, Bruce J. 2003. Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickson, Bruce J., Landry, Pierre F., Shen, Mingming and Yan, Jie. 2016. “Public goods and regime support in urban China.” The China Quarterly 228, 859–880.10.1017/S0305741016001156CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dikötter, Frank. 2010. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62. New York: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Fan, Xu. 2021. “Shenzhen ni dafu tigao luohu menkan; yiliao, jiaoyu deng gonggong ziyuan riyi jinzhang” (Shenzhen would raise the threshold for hukou because of increasing deficiencies in healthcare and education resources). Jiemian, 26 May, https://www.jiemian.com/article/6148989.html. Accessed 20 June 2021.Google Scholar
Frazier, Mark W. 2010. Socialist Insecurity: Pensions and the Politics of Uneven Development in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Eli. 2017. “Just-in-time urbanization? Managing migration, citizenship, and schooling in the Chinese city.” Critical Sociology 44(3), 503–518.10.1177/0896920517695867CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E. 2005. Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the Politics of Labor in China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E., and Hanson, Jonathan K.. 2013. “Authoritarian survival, resilience, and the selectorate theory.” In Dimitrov, Martin K. (ed.), Why Communism Did Not Collapse. New York: Cambridge University Press, 185–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geddes, Barbara, Frantz, Erica and Wright, Joseph. 2004. “Autocratic breakdown and regime transitions: a new data set.” Perspectives on Politics 12(2), 313–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, David S.G. 2014. “Middle class China: dreams and aspirations.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 19, 49–67.10.1007/s11366-013-9275-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadenius, Axel, and Teorell, Jan. 2007. “Pathways from authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 18(1), 143–157.10.1353/jod.2007.0009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Peter A. 2010. “Historical institutionalism in rationalist and sociological perspective.” In Mahoney, James and Thelen, Kathleen (eds.), Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 204–223.Google Scholar
Han, Jun, and Luo, Dan. 2007. Zhongguo nongcun weisheng diaocha (Survey on China's Rural Medical and Health Reality). Shanghai: Shanghai Far East Publishers.Google Scholar
Huang, Xian. 2014. “Expansion of Chinese social health insurance: who gets what, how and when?” Journal of Contemporary China 23(89), 923–951.10.1080/10670564.2014.882617CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Xian. 2015. “Four worlds of welfare: understanding subnational variation in Chinese social health insurance.” The China Quarterly 222, 449–474.10.1017/S0305741015000399CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurst, William. 2009. The Chinese Worker after Socialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511575570CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lan, Pei-Chia. 2014. “Segmented incorporation: the second generation of rural migrants in Shanghai.” The China Quarterly 217, 243–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Ching Kwan. 2007. Against the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt and Sunbelt. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520940642CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liang, Chen, Zhang, Hao, Li, Lan, Ruan, Danqing, Kang, Wenlin and Li, Zhongqing. 2013. Silent Revolution: The Social Origins of Freshman in Peking University and Suzhou University, 1949–2022. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Liu, Limin, Wagner, Wolfgang, Wu, Xiwei and Trautwein, Ulrich. 2014. “Independent freshman admission and educational inequality in access to elite higher education.” Chinese Sociological Review 46(4), 41–67.10.2753/CSA2162-0555460403CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, James, and Thelen, Kathleen. 2010. “A gradual theory of institutional change.” In Mahoney, James and Thelen, Kathleen (eds.), Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–37.Google Scholar
Mattingly, C. Daniel. 2020. The Art of Political Control in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mertha, Andrew. 2009. “‘Fragmented authoritarianism 2.0’: political pluralization in the Chinese policy process.” The China Quarterly 200, 995–1012.10.1017/S0305741009990592CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MOE (Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China). 2008a. “985 gongcheng xuexiao mingdan” (The 985 project university list), http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A22/s7065/200612/t20061206_128833.html. Accessed 7 August 2021.Google Scholar
MOE. 2008b. “211 gongcheng xuexiao mingdan” (The 211 project university list), http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A22/s7065/200512/t20051223_82762.html. Accessed 7 August 2021.Google Scholar
MOE. 2016. “Jiaoyubu youguan fuzeren jiu 2016 nian putong gaoxiao zhaosheng jihua youguan qingkuang da jizhe wen” (Executives’ response to reporters about the admission plan of higher education), 14 May, http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s271/201605/t20160514_243927.html. Accessed 7 August 2021.Google Scholar
National Healthcare Security Administration. 2019. “2018 nian quanguo jiben yiliao baozhang shiye fazhan tongji gongbao” (Statistical bulletin on national basic medical insurance development for 2018), http://www.nhsa.gov.cn/art/2019/6/30/art_7_1477.html. Accessed 20 June 2020.Google Scholar
NBS (National Bureau of Statistics). 1983; 2004; 2011. China Statistical Yearbook. DOI: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj./ndsj/.Google Scholar
NBS. 2016. “Nongmingong jiance diaocha baogao” (Report on migrant workers monitoring survey), http://ex.cssn.cn/jjx/jjx_bg/201704/t20170428_3503438.shtml. Accessed 20 June 2020.Google Scholar
Oi, Jean C. 1989. State and Peasant in Contemporary China: The Political Economy of Village Government. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Pan, Jennifer. 2020. Welfare for Autocrats: How Social Assistance in China Cares for its Rulers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, Guy, Pierre, Jon and King, Desmond. 2005. “The politics of path dependence: political conflict in historical institutionalism.” Journal of Politics 67(4), 1275–1300.10.1111/j.1468-2508.2005.00360.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shi, Shih-Jiunn. 2017. “Social decentralization: exploring the competitive solidarity of regional social protection in China.” Journal of Asian Public Policy 10(1), 74–89.10.1080/17516234.2016.1258523CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solinger, Dorothy J. 1999. Contesting Citizenship in Urban China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Solinger, Dorothy J. 2009. States’ Gains, Labor's Losses: China, France, and Mexico Choose Global Liaisons, 1980–2000. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 2007. Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsai, Kellee S. 2016. “Adaptive informal institutions.” In Fioretos, Orfeo, Falleti, Tulia G. and Sheingate, Adam (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 322–343.Google Scholar
Walder, Andrew G. 1986. Communist Neo-traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wallace, Jeremy. 2014. Cities and Stability: Urbanization, Redistribution, and Regime Survival in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199378982.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Fei-Ling. 2005. Organizing through Division and Exclusion: China's Hukou System. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.10.1515/9780804767484CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Fei-Ling. 2008. “Zhongguo de hukou zhidu zhuanxing” (China's hukou system reform). 21st Century 109, 4–14.Google Scholar
Wang, Shu. 2010. “Beijing gongfei yiliao gaige jinnian tuikai gaige hou daiyu buhuijiang” (Beijing initiated public-funded healthcare reform without downgrading benefits). Sohunet, 14 January, http://news.sohu.com/20100114/n269579175.shtml. Accessed 28 April 2020.Google Scholar
Wu, Chunyan. 2016. “Guangdong quanmian fangkai yidi gaokao” (Guangdong opens up the College Entrance Examination for non-locals). Guangming ribao, 25 May.Google Scholar
Wu, Xiaogang, and Li, Zhonglu. 2017. “Independent Freshman Admission Program (IFAP) and talent selection in higher education in China: evidence from national elite universities.” Chinese Journal of Sociology 5(37), 139–164.Google Scholar
Wu, Xiaogang, and Treiman, Donald J.. 2004. “The household registration system and social stratification in China: 1955–1996.” Demography 41(2), 368–384.10.1353/dem.2004.0010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, Xiaogang, and Treiman, Donald J.. 2007. “Inequality and equality under Chinese socialism: the hukou system and intergenerational occupational mobility.” American Journal of Sociology 113(2), 415–445.10.1086/518905CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xie, Yu, and Jin, Yongai. 2015. “Household wealth in China.” Chinese Sociological Review 47(3), 203–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xie, Yu, and Zhou, Xiang. 2014. “Income inequality in China.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1403158111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xin, Yang. 2006. “Huhehaote hukou zhunruzhi ganga zaoyu shishinan” (Embarrassment over the difficulty of accessing hukou in Hohhot). Renmin ribao, 20 March.Google Scholar
Ye, Jingzhong, Wang, Chunyu, Wu, Huifang, He, Congzhi and Liu, Juan. 2013. “Internal migration and left-behind populations in China.” Journal of Peasant Studies 40(6), 1119–46.10.1080/03066150.2013.861421CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Changdong. 2017. “A fiscal sociological theory of authoritarian resilience.” Sociological Theory 35(1), 39–63.10.1177/0735275117693038CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Qianfan, and Qu, Xiangfei (eds.). 2011. Daxue zhaosheng yu xianfa pingdeng: guoji jingyan yu zhongguo wenti (College Admission and Constitutional Equality: International Experiences and Chinese Problems). Nanjing: Yiling chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhou, Fang. 2021. “Zhongxibu shengfen jielian jiang luohu menkan chu zengjia renkou haiyou zhexie yuanyin” (There are other reasons for the mid-western provinces to lower their hukou thresholds apart from increasing population.” Chinanews, 16 June, http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2021/06-16/9500218.shtml. Accessed 20 June 2020.Google Scholar