Hukou (; ) is a system of household registration used in mainland China. The system itself is more properly called huji (; ), and has origins in ancient China; hukou is the registration of an individual in the system. 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 () 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 neighbouring East Asian countries, such as Japan (koseki) and Korea (hoju), as well as the Southeast Asian country Vietnam (hộ khẩu). In South Korea, the hoju system was abolished in January 2008. 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.
In the modern era, the hukou system functions as an administrative tool to address challenges of rapid urbanisation, primarily through population management and controlled migration to megacities and large urban centres. A central rationale of such policies, particularly in first-tier cities, has been to prevent severe overcrowding, infrastructure overload, and the emergence of large-scale slums during China's rapid industrialisation and urbanisation phases. Shahid Yusuf, a Senior Adviser in the World Bank’s Development Research Group, noted that the hukou system served as a "cornerstone of China's urbanisation strategy" by controlling migration and channelling migrants toward small or medium-sized cities rather than allowing unchecked inflows to the largest urban areas. He described China's ability to achieve rapid urbanisation while largely avoiding widespread slum formation as one of its "greatest successes" in managing its urbanisation pathway, stating: "One of China’s greatest successes in its rapid urbanisation has been that it has managed to contain the process to the extent that there are crowded living conditions but very few slums. This is an important achievement for a developing country."
However, there is ongoing debate regarding the future role of the system, and in recent years China has created reforms whose aim is to relax hukou restrictions gradually. In their 1990 study of Chinese peasants, anthropologists Sulamith Heins Potter and Jack M. Potter described the rural–urban status distinction as "caste-like", emphasizing inherited status and social stratification. The hukou system 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. Since 1978, the central government has undertaken reforms of the system in response to protests and a changing economic system.
In 2014, the State Council called for a unified household registration system, replacing the agricultural and non-agricultural categories with resident registration.
Nomenclature: huji vs. hukou The formal name for the system is huji. Within the huji system, a hukou is the registered residency status of a particular individual in this system. However, the term hukou is used colloquially to refer to the entire system, and it has been adopted by English-language audiences to refer to both the huji system and an individual's hukou.
Household registration in mainland China
The hukou system has origins in China that date back to ancient times, but the system in its current form came into being with the 1958 People's Republic of China Hukou Registration Regulation.
Historically, each citizen was classified in an agricultural or non-agricultural hukou (commonly referred to as rural or urban) and further categorised by location of origin. This two-fold organisational structure was linked to social policy, and those residents who held non-agricultural (i.e., urban) hukou status received benefits not available to their rural counterparts, and vice versa.Chan, K. W. (2015). Five Decades of the Chinese Hukou System. In Handbook of Chinese Migration: Identity and Wellbeing (pp. 23-47). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
Internal migration was also tightly controlled by the central government, and only in the past few decades have these restrictions been loosened. While this system has played a major role in China's fast economic growth, hukou has also promoted and aggravated social stratification and contributed significantly to the deprivation of many of China's rural workers.
Steps have been taken to alleviate the inequalities promulgated by the hukou system, with major reforms announced in March and July 2014, which included a provision that eliminated the division between agricultural and non-agricultural hukou status.
Rationale and function In the middle of the 20th century, China's weak industrial sector and food security needs meant that mass migration was a threat to stability in both urban and rural areas. By restricting peasants' ability to move, the system aimed to ensure sufficient agricultural production and to maintain social stability in urban areas with limited work opportunities. In its original legislation, the hukou system was justified as created to"...maintain social order, protect the rights and interests of citizens and to be of service to the establishment of socialism". The central government asserted that because rural areas had greater capacity to absorb and use excess labor, the majority of the population should be concentrated in these regions. Furthermore, free movement of people was considered dangerous, as it would lead to overpopulation of cities and could threaten agricultural production. Under the hukou system, the rural population was structured to serve as support for urban industrialisation, both in agricultural production and workers for state-owned businesses.Luard, Tim. "China rethinks peasant 'apartheid'", BBC News, 10 November 2005.
The hukou system served other purposes as well. After establishing the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party enacted policies based on the notions of stability and rapid modernisation, and the hukou system was no exception. Urban areas have historically been where authoritarian regimes are most vulnerable: to combat this, the central government gave preferential treatment to city residents, hoping to prevent uprisings against the state, particularly in the early years when it was especially susceptible to rebellion. The structure of the hukou system also bolstered the power of the central government over its urban citizens: by making city residents dependent upon the government for all aspects of daily life, the central government could force obedience from problematic individuals.
The central government's efforts to contain migration have been a major factor in the rapid development of the Chinese economy. Their tight check on migration into urban areas has helped prevent the emergence of several problems faced by many other developing countries. For example, the appearance of slums outside of urban areas due to a massive influx of individuals searching for work has not been an issue, nor have poor health conditions due to high population density. And regardless of its other imperfections, the hukou system's ability to maintain stability has contributed to China's economic rise.
History The legacy of the Chinese hukou system may be traced back to the pre-dynastic era, as early as the 21st century BC. In its early forms, the household registration system was used primarily for taxation and conscription, as well as regulating migration. The xiangsui and baojia systems were early models of the hukou system. The xiangsui system, established under the Western Zhou dynasty ( 11th–8th centuries BC), was used as a method of organising and categorising urban and rural land. The function of the baojia system, propagated by Lord Shang Yang of the 4th century BC, was to create a system of accountability within groups of citizens: if one person within the group violated the strict rules in place, everyone in the group suffered. This structure was later utilized and expanded upon during the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) for taxation, population control, and conscription.
According to the Examination of Hukou in Wenxian Tongkao published in 1317, there was a minister for population management during the Zhou dynasty named Simin (), who was responsible for recording births, deaths, emigrations and immigrations. The Rites of Zhou notes that three copies of documents were kept in different places. The administrative divisions in the Zhou dynasty were a function of the distance to the state capital. The top division nearest the capital was named Dubi (); top divisions in more distant areas were named Xiang () and Sui (). Families were organized under the Baojia system.
Guan Zhong, Prime Minister of the Qi state in the 7th century BC, imposed different taxation and conscription policies on different areas.Guanzi:国门内外，都鄙井田，山泽川隰 In addition, Guan Zhong also banned immigration, emigration, and separation of families without permission.Guanzi:禁迁徙、止流民、圉分异 In the Book of Lord Shang, Shang Yang also described his policy restricting immigrations and emigrations.Guanzi: 禁迁徙、止流民、圉分异 chapter 2:使民无得擅徙
Xiao He, the first Chancellor of the Han dynasty, added the chapter of Hu (, "Households Code") as one of the nine basic law codes of Han (), and established the hukou system as the basis of tax revenue and conscription. The first formal codification of the hukou system arose at the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) with the 1911 Huji Law. Although movement was nominally free under this statute, registration of individuals with the government was required, and it was used by the government to pursue communist forces and as a basis for taxation for the funding of wars. The law also expanded upon the baojia system, and was intended to establish a sense of stability.
In the period following the fall of the Qing dynasty, China was ruled by various actors, each of which employed some system of household or personal identification. During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese employed a system used to identify those under their rule and to fund their war effort. Similarly, the Kuomintang utilized the system to monitor the activities of their opponents, the Chinese Communist Party, and the Chinese Communist Party in turn used a system called lianbao, which bundled families into groups of five to aid tracking and impede counterrevolutionaries.
1949–1978: Maoist era At the time of its founding in 1949, the People's Republic of China was a highly agricultural nation. About 89% of its citizens lived in rural areas – about 484 million resided in the countryside, versus about 58 million in the city.Duan, C., Gao, S., & Zhu, Y. (n.d.). The Phenomenon of Internal Migration in China. In Chinese Migration and Families-at-Risk (pp. 14-36). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. However, with efforts to increase industrialisation and Soviet help (156 projects), more and more rural residents flocked to the cities in search of better economic opportunities: between 1957 and 1960, there was a 90.9% increase in the urban labour force.