Policy Reform Proposal: China's Hukou System

Abstract

Hukou is a household registration system that categorizes every citizen as “agricultural (rural)” or “non-agricultural (urban)” and bans the movement into different regions (Meng, 2012). Although its restriction on migration has weakened since the economic reforms in of late 1970s, hukou still strictly restricts flow of population. Furthermore, hukou has systematically institutionalized inequality and disadvantages against the rural hukou holders. In this paper, I argue that the hukou system is unjust and there is an urgent need for reform; I aim to design reform proposal based on Martha Nussbaum's Capability Approach, which enables me to formulate fair and holistic policies. [From initial section]