首页  | 新闻播报

Hukou reform expected to be a gradual process

中国日报网 2013-11-15 10:12

分享到微信

Get Flash Player

Download

Xu Shaoshi, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, promised to "revise and improve the policy suggestion on urbanization" that his commission submitted to the State Council in June.

He made the remarks on Wednesday during the first internal conference since the recent plenum.

Xu's stance appeared to confirm predictions that the central government will gradually modify urban and rural hukou (household registration), rather than canceling the controversial system overnight.

In June, the commission suggested the government should completely lift hukou control in small towns and cities - a bid to ease restrictions in middle-level cities - while gradually broadening conditions to apply for hukou in big cities. It also urged revamping hukou application conditions for megacities.

Experts believe the central government will approach the hukou issue indirectly by providing farmers with more "property income" and basic citizen-welfare treatment.

Hukou reform would be one result of rural land reform, urbanization and social security, although the memo from the just-concluded Third Plenum of the Communist Party of China's 18th Central Committee did not mention it by name. The memo rather stressed a balanced distribution of public resources and equalization of social welfare, which some say will ultimately yield the desired result.

"The memo has actually pointed out a clear direction and roadmap to break the hukou-based dual structure of city and countryside by addressing the welfare disparity," said Zhang Liqun, an economy researcher at the National Development Research Center of the State Council. "The integration of rural and urban is good for modernization of agriculture and healthy urbanization."

Wang Yongjun, professor of finance at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, said the equalization of welfare "does not mean giving all citizens exactly the same level" of social security.

"It means that the minimum welfare standard for all citizens should be guaranteed by the government as its obligation to the people," he said.

Analysts believe the equalization of public services is the Party's direct response to the public's cry for hukou reform - especially for migrant workers - with the concept of granting property rights to farmers part of the same message.

Cao Yuanzheng, chief economist at Bank of China, said: "The integration of public services is the essence of healthy urbanization, and farmers will have the freedom to make a choice between the city and the countryside."

China has about 300 million migrant workers, many of whom leave their farmland uncultivated to work in cities without having the privileges that come with having hukou there.

(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
本文相关阅读
5af95d3ba3103f6866ee845a

Netizens upset over flu shots for hukou

5af95d3ba3103f6866ee845a

Cities asked to help grads obtain hukou

5af95d3ba3103f6866ee845a

Capital considers easing hukou rules

人气排行
中国日报网 英语点津微信
中国日报网 双语小程序