BEIJING: Some provincial capitals and large cities in China have begun to relax their hukou policies, a move that experts said was to encourage a more flexible movement of people, particularly those seeking employment.
The hukou is the system of household registration on the Chinese mainland, identifying an individual as a permanent resident of a particular area and granting that individual social benefits such as access to education, healthcare and the purchase of property.
A recent trending topic on microblogging platform Sina Weibo revolved around the possibility of switching a household registration from a place outside of cities such as Nanchang, Haikou and Hangzhou, to one of those cities provided you had a friend living in that city and if other conditions are met.
The trend of loosening hukou policy is widely seen as an approach to bolster labor mobility while stimulating urbanization efforts. The requirements vary in different cities and regions. In some cities such as Nanchang, if a friend owns a local residence and agrees to sponsor a registration, that individual can settle in Nanchang.
But in larger cities like Hangzhou, it’s more difficult to transfer hukou. An individual must be unmarried and have no property in Hangzhou, as well as meet specific criteria set by the city to be eligible for household registration. In cities like Haikou and Hefei, friends can buy a property together and have their household registrations in the same booklet. However, only one of them can be registered as the head of the household.
Wen Jun, a professor of social sciences at East China Normal University in Shanghai, said that the move could help young people better integrate into urban life where they choose to move to.
“For young job seekers, this is good news,” Wen said, adding that the relaxation of household registration policies in cities provides them with more employment opportunities and room for development. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
