The Hybrid HuKou: A New Proposal to Enhance Labor Mobility in China

AuthorEric Monkman
Pages80-100
MONKMAN (DO NOT DELETE) 15/12/2 8:12 PM
80 TSINGHUA CHINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 7:79
THE HYBRID HUKOU: A NEW PROPOSAL TO ENHANCE
LABOR MOBILITY IN CHINA
Eric Monkman
Abstract:
Since 1958, the Chinese household registration system, known in Chinese as the hukou system
(
户口
), has limited the ability of Chinese citizens to move from on e area of the country to
another. Under the hukou system, Chinese citizens who move from rural areas to urban areas
are prevented from accessing many benefits that are available to their urban-registered peers,
including education for the ir children. This prevents people from relocating to areas where
they would be the most economica lly productive, and in turn contributes to economic and
social inequality. The hukou system is also inconsistent with the obligations set forth by
international human rights treaties, which China has ratified or may ratify in the future. This
article will suggest that a new category of hukou registration could be created to enable
migration to urban areas, promoting a gradual transition to urban registration. This new
category, which I call the hybrid hukouregistration, would increase Chinas economic
productivity, decrease inequality, and enhance human rights in China. The hybrid hukou
registration would also give Chinese cities time to adjust to the influx of newcom ers, which
would likely result from greater mobility.
I. INTRODUCTION
Philosophers have long considered restrictions on labor mobility
to be both economically inefficient and socially unjust. In 1776,
Adam Smith criticized the poor law, which was in effect in England
at the time, because it restricted the ability of English laborers to
move from one parish to another in search of work. 1 In 1899,
Vladimir Lenin, a man who disagreed with Adam Smith over many
issues, criticized laws in Tsarist Russia that prevented Russian
muzhiks (i.e., peasants) from migrating in an attempt to seek
employment from “the employer who [gave] the greatest
advantage.” 2 These laws meant that muzhiks could be taken
advantage of by employers who set up factories in rural areas to
exploit cheap labor.3 It is, therefore, ironic that China, a country with
a Constitution that extols the guidance of Marxism-Leninism4 and
1 ADAM SMITH, 1 AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS 137
(Edwin Cannan ed., 5th ed. 1904), available at http://files.libertyfund.org/files/237/0206-
01_Bk_Sm.pdf.
2 VLADIMIR LENIN, The Development of Capitalism in Russia, in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF
VLADIMIR LENIN (4th ed. 1964), available at
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/dcr8vii/vii8viii.htm.
3 Id.
4 Xian Fa (宪法) [Constitution] (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat’l People’s Cong., Mar.
14, 1982, effective on Mar. 14, 1982) (2004) (Chinalawinfo).
MONKMAN (DO NOT DELETE) 15/12/2 8:12 PM
2014] THE HYBRID HUKOU 81
whose leaders who approvingly cite Adam Smith’s moral
philosophy,5 heavily restricts the mobility rights of its citizens.
Since 1958, the hukou dengji tiaoli (户口登记条例), China’s
household registration regulation system, known as the hukou, has
made it difficult for Chinese citizens to move from one area of China
to another. 6 Hukou registrations are enforced across China in
different cities, towns, and rural areas. 7 In order to access many
social services, such as education, housing, and healthcare, a Chinese
citizen must have a valid hukou registration for the area in which
they live. 8 The greatest divide created by the hukou system is
between people with hukou registrations in urban areas, who can live
in the city and access social services there, and those who have
registrations in rural areas, who have the right to farm land but
cannot access urban services.9 These restrictions on labor mobility
exacerbate labor shortages in economically dynamic urban areas.
The hukou also increases inequality across China, as the hukou
registration makes it much more difficult for people with rural hukou
registrations to enjoy the social and career opportunities created in
cities. In practice, the hukou system also violates international human
rights treaties, which China has ratified or may ratify in the future.
In the summer of 2014, The Chinese Government announced
several reforms to the hukou system that will eliminate the
distinction between urban and rural hukou holders in small cities.10
Unfortunately, it is unclear whether the reforms will lead to real
improvements. This article will examine some of the proposed
reforms and will explain why the consequences are likely to
disappoint. It will then suggest new reforms, centered on the
introduction of a new form of hukou registration called the hybrid
hukou. Ultimately, if China wishes to close the gap between its urban
and rural citizens, it must do so in a way that neither unfettered
market forces nor heavy-handed government regulation dominates
the process of human migration. Rather, China should introduce a
5 Interview by Fareed Zakaria, Host, CNN, with Wen Jiabao, Chinese Premier (Sept. 29, 2008),
available at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/29/chinese.premier.transcript/.
6 Kam Wing Chan, The Chinese Hukou System at 50, in 50 EURASIAN GEOGRAPHY AND
ECONOMICS 197-198 (2009).
7 Yilong Liu, Does Hukou Still Matter? The Household Registration System and its Impact on
Social Stratification and Mobility in China, 29 SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CHINA 56, 57 (2008).
8 Maarten Bosker, et al., Relaxing Hukou Increased Labor Mobility and China’s Economic
Geography 3 (Ctr. for Econ. Studies and Ifo Inst., Working Paper No. 3271, 2010), available at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722531.
9 Liu, supra note 7, at 57.
10 Tania Branigan, China Reforms Hukou System to Improve Migrant Workers’ Rights, THE
GUARDIAN (July 31, 2014), http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/31/china-reform-hukou-
migrant-workers.

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