In 1997 Chengdu and Chongqing were chosed to implement the reform of the hukou system in two phases. For a great introduction to the city check this article in Foreign Policy.
Congqing, with its 32 million inhabitants but a very low local hukou holders rate, and close to the Three Gorges Dam project in the Yangtze river shore (central China), was granted “autonomy” status in 1997 (from Sichuan province to direct control by the central government) and started and impressive growth based mainly on property boom, better fiscalization and massive industrialization with cheap rural labour available. But the city has also been know to be the focus of the efforts against the triads (mafia) and corruption, with more than 3000 arrests including the chief of the Justice Department. Other interesting initiatives are the low rent housing projects (inspired on Singapore) and its foreign investment and relations activities. The city’s main slogan is “reform and opening-up”.
The city’s special administrative status and the strong leadership of it’s mayor Huang Qifan and its party secretary Bo Xilai (a modern, media friendly and popular politician with a bright future in national politics) has also helped the city to be on the media spotlight and to set an example for the development of non-coastal areas in China.
, looks to be advancing the most promising one.(Global Times)
In the first phase, which will be completed by 2012, more than 3.3 million rural residents who have worked or run businesses in Chongqing for more than five years, purchased a private apartment, or paid taxes exceeding 100,000 yuan ($14,720) over three years, will be entitled to the urban hukou.
Another 7 million rural residents can change their status by 2020.
In total, more than 10 million residents are expected to get a local hukou through this reform, increasing the people with local hukou from the 28% of residents to the 60% in 2020. And impressive effort.
One of the first measures to implement was the Migrant Working day, (nov. 4) as a way to recognise its contributions to the development of the city and to try improve its social status (similar to teacher’s or doctor’s day). That day 10 model migrant workers are chosen, and old migrants get free physical examination and free consultation on their children’s schooling.
At that time many, like me, were very skeptical about this propagandistic and symbolic move, but the reform was going to be more important.
In 2009 the State Council realised an official document (Several Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Urban-Rural Reform and Development of Chongqing ) asking the city government to:
The social security system focusing on basic old-age, medical and unemployment insurance is to cover rural migrants in cities and towns, rural migrants of land requisition, and migrants from ecological screen and geological disaster areas.
Nowadays the investment for the hukou reform is quite impressive. As we can read in China Labour Bulletin:
Chongqing plans to spend over 300 billion yuan ($44.28 billion USD) on “the ten people’s livelihood issues” (民生十条) over the next year and a half. Of this whopping amount of money, 130 billion yuan will be spent on “resolving rural residents who enter the city’s hukou status” and 70 billion yuan on public housing. Billions of yuan will be spent on increasing farmers’ incomes, micro-loans, health services, rural health care, school security and other programs. Also, notably, 5 billion yuan will be spent on education for “left behind” children.
But would that investment be enough? Or would it be like in Zhengzhou in Henan Province and Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province were the lack of investment in social services was a great setback?
And in this short interview with Huang Qifan (in CNTV.CN) the mayor of Chongqing explains.
“Once they become urban residents, they will immediately put on the `five clothing items,` and their `three clothing items` in the countryside … their contracted land, their forest, and their housing land … will remain for at least three years. They can choose to sell them or to keep them.”
The mayor presents five points in the reform’s significance …
To guarantee the interests of those who work in the city without urban residency …
To improve productivity in the rural area by transferring the spare labor force to the urban area …
To improve the structure of the urban population and alleviate the pressure of an aging society …
To expand domestic demand …
And to speed up the process of urbanization.
The mayor doesn’t agree with the opinion that the government is trying to obtain land by granting hukous to migrant workers.
Even more interesting, the mayor things that the hukou reform is important in order to reach an “harmonious society” and should be and example for other cities. And I may agree. At least I’ll recognise that it’s reform is very ambitious.
LAND FOR SOCIAL SERVICES?
But, of course, the reform of the hukou status in Chongqing has raised the same critics as in other big municipalities like Beijing or Shanghai. We should study this in more depth in other posts, but most critics explain that if the rural residents change their status, they have to surrender their rights to use rural land to build a home within three years.And some rural hukou holders fears that the benefits that come with being an urban resident do not outweigh the benefits of owning land. This is already true for some students in Beijing for example.
But, from my point of view, in fact, this reform could be a very big business for local governments that could obtain cheap land for the increased urbanization and, by selling it, continue rising funds. And if this money is invested in extending and improving the social services (not banished in the corridors of corruption) for the new local hukou holders this would be a great way finance the reforms. This model could then be extended to the rest of big cities in a slogan like “give up your land rights, and get social services”
“I feel proud, I’m an urban resident.”
BALANCE
The reform of the Hukou in Chongqing looks serious with committed and capable local politicians leading it. The challenge is enormous but the investment looks big too and can rise its own funds. Is a gradual and pragmatic reform, very Chinese style, with the support of the central government and set as an example for other cities. The strongest point is that the reform is centered on the social consequences of the hukou status (unequal access to social services) and is realistic.
PS- Of course, using land for local fund rising its only a short term solution that can help for the transition. In Spain many local governments have been using this tactics for years in order to rise funds without rising taxes, leading to house boubles and financial disaster.
HuKou Reform - 户口改革 
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