This article outlines the latest reforms of China's hukou system in 1997–2002 and reports the system's functional changes and continuities. Today's hukou system still performs two leading functions: the widely discussed internal migration control with reformed mechanisms and the previously scarcely examined socio-political management of the targeted people ( zhongdian renkou ). An adapted and adjusted hukou system is expected to continue as a key component of China's institutional framework, playing a crucial role to determine socio-political stability, facilitate a rapid but uneven economic growth, and shape socio-economic stratification and spatial inequality in the PRC.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Fei-Ling Wang (2004) studied this question.