In densely populated China, household registration is an important method for the Chinese Communist Party to impose social control. Anyone wishing to work in a city must register his or her household at that city. Otherwise, the person will be sent back to his or her registered household.
However, against the backdrop of unbalanced economic development in China, cities enjoy the fastest economic development and are considered a paradise for a majority of impoverished people in rural areas. This has caused a "black hole" of unregistered residents in the populations of China's big cities. This black hole has become a destabilizing factor in urban society.
Facing intense international competition and seeking competitive advantages for themselves following China's WTO accession, three major Chinese cities -- Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou -- are gradually opening up household registration in a bid to retain talent. Beneficiaries of this policy change, however, are restricted to educated professionals or property owners. Under such status restrictions and the increasing concentration of resources in urban areas, China's cities has become the battleground for social-economic competition. The widening gap between rich and poor, and between urban and rural areas, are the biggest social problems facing China.
In fact, the conflict between China's urban and rural areas is nothing new. Since the communist regime was established, the household registration system has become the most important institutional factor in urban-rural conflicts. In addition, China once emulated the former Soviet Union's model of making cities the hub of industrial production.
Under this arrangement, rural areas collected resources to support industrialization in the cities. The urban-rural conflict initially took shape under this division of labor.
In the discourse of the Chinese communist regime, cities had no basis for legitimacy, as the regime's powerbase were the rural classes. All discourse related to cities was regarded as poisonous residue left by the conservative feudal society. After Deng Xiaoping's (
Hidden behind the household registration system is the lack of a mechanism for allowing social mobility. Within China's big cities dwell a large number of urban and rural migrants, among whom only a few can obtain city household registration by virtue of their professions. Most others are illegal migrants with low education levels. Even in big cities, there is already a definite class division between city residents and urban and rural migrants. If we look at China as a whole, we see that urban and rural areas are simply two different worlds.
In the process of China's economic development, technocrats have been unduly influential. Everything was "development"-oriented. Now, the Chinese government hopes to maintain the economic growth rate at 7 percent. However, it faces the difficult question of how to strike a balance between economic growth and social order. Opening up city household registration to rural migrants actually helps urban areas stretch out their claws and grab more resources. Behind the glamor of cities is the exploitation of many rural areas. Underdevelopment in rural areas will again become China's most serious social problem.
Hsu Tung-ming is a freelance writer based in Beijing.
Translated by Jackie Lin
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