China's great migration from 'Hukou Hell'
updated 10:27 AM EST, Fri February 8, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Household registration system "Hukou" behind China's mass migration
- System divides the population into rural and urban residents
- Citizens can only access social services where they are registered
- Migrant workers have restricted access to education, welfare, medical and housing benefits
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Hong Kong (CNN) -- At this very moment, in a major Chinese city, a worker is boarding a train home.
His journey is just one of 3.4 billion trips that will be taken during China's Lunar New Year.
An
unprecedented number of Chinese will travel home this year to be with
family and friends during the holiday, making it the world's largest
annual migration of people.
Their
yearly homecoming has been repeated over and over for the past two
decades, reuniting families in the villages with the workers who have
fueled China's economic miracle.
But that growth has come at a tremendous personal cost thanks in part to a household registration system called "hukou."
The
hukou is akin to an internal passport that divides the population into
rural and urban residents. As such, migrant workers are prevented from
accessing social services in the city they're working in.
The
deeply discriminatory nature of China's hukou system came into clear
focus last month after the fatal collapse of a bridge in Henan. Local media reports said
victims' families with an urban hukou would receive 400,000 yuan in
compensation compared to 180,000 yuan for those with a rural hukou.
The
institutionalized restriction of people's movement in China goes back
for centuries, and was re-introduced by the Communist Party after 1949.
Labor rights activist Han Dongfang of China Labor Bulletin says China's
booming economy in recent years has made many hukou restrictions
disappear, especially those that restrict the freedom of movement.
"But
restrictions on access to education, welfare, medical and housing
benefits still exist and disproportionately affect the poorest and least
educated citizens," he says.
"In effect, the hukou system now only targets the poor."
Han
was a democracy activist who set up the Beijing Workers' Autonomous
Federation during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He has spent the
last two decades in exile in Hong Kong, defending worker rights in
China.
Though
not many people outside China have heard of the hukou system, Han says
they must for a very simple reason -- the bottom line. Meaningful hukou
reform would bring more riches to China's workers and the world.
"If
200 million Chinese workers, which is only about one-third of the total
labor force in China, become regular consumers and taxpayers, not only
will China's economy benefit, the rest of the world will benefit as
well, as China consumes more products and services from abroad."
Rob Schmitz, the China-based correspondent for Marketplace,
often reports on labor issues in China. He puts the plight of China's
migrant workers under the hukou system in simple and stark terms: "They
are treated like illegal immigrants inside their own country."
Today's younger workers... are much more likely to express their discontent with the system
Han Dongfang, China Labor Bulletin
Han Dongfang, China Labor Bulletin
And
these "illegals" make up a major portion of the urban populace. Beijing
may have a population of over 20 million, but migrant workers make up a
third of its residents. Thanks to the hukou system, one-third of the
population of the Chinese capital are without access to basic services
like health care and education.
"One
of the biggest issues within the hukou system is the children," says
Schmitz. "Many children are born in the large cities where their parents
have moved to. This is their hometown, as far as they know it... but
once they turn a certain age, and if they want to go to college someday,
they will have to move to where their household registration is in
their 'lao jia' or home village."
It's
no surprise that many migrant workers choose to leave their children
behind in their hometown to be raised by their grandparents. They are
called "liu dong er tong" or "floating children."
China Labour Bulletin estimates
there are some 16 million children "floating children" in China. The
group says they have a substandard education. They're more prone to
violence and crime. They are more vulnerable to sexual abuse.
Beijing
has vowed to reform the hukou system as part of a greater urbanization
drive -- encouraging more Chinese to move to cities where they can earn
more and spend more.
And China's newest generation of migrant workers are pushing -- and protesting -- for that reform to come quickly.
"Today's
younger workers, who have greater aspirations and expectations than
their parents, are much more likely to express their discontent with the
system, especially the way it restricts their access to public
schooling for their children, subsidized housing, health care, etc.,"
says Han.
They are treated like illegal immigrants inside their own country
Rob Schmitz, Marketplace
Rob Schmitz, Marketplace
"They see themselves as urban residents and believe more that they should have equal access to such services."
Suki Chung of Labour Action China
adds that China's latest generation of workers are more rights-aware
and willing to challenge the long-held registration system.
"For
the first generation of migrant workers, their hometown subsidized them
and their children could go to school at home. But the new generation
want their family to stay in the city."
After two decades of the "Great Migration," China's latest generation of workers simply want to stay put.
To hell with the hukou.
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