Author: Ran Tao, Renmin University

‘Hukou reform’ is now becoming a catchphrase in the Chinese media and in China’s policy making circles. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in an exclusive interview with the Xinhua News Agency on December 27, 2009, said that China will steadily advance the reform of its decades-long household registration system in order to ensure migrant workers have the same rights as city dwellers.

The importance attached to hukou reform is also reflected in the Chinese Communist Party’s ‘No. 1 Central Committee Document’, promulgated at the end of January 2010. Read more…