The press conference on the State Council’s guideline on reform of China's household registration system

(en.nhfpc.gov.cn)

Updated: 2014-08-24

Li Pumin: The third is to develop public facilities and public service in small and medium-sized cities. In this respect, the cities have strong potential. In other words, the infrastructures and public service facilities have large development space. From the view of foreign development experiences, many small and medium-sized cities have prestigious universities that make the city famous, but this is very rare in the context of China. As a result, we should strengthen the construction of municipal infrastructures in small and medium-sized cities, and give priority to them in the allocation of public resources like educational and medical resources. We should also guide the deployment of higher vocational education institutions in these cities, and encourage high-class education and healthcare institutes to set up branches there. Of course, there are structural and institutional barriers to break in order to increase the attraction of small and medium-sized cities. Thank you. 2014-07-30 11:22:00

Beijing Times: I have a question about controlling population size in mega-cities. We already know that the mega-cities will control population by establishing a point system for hukou transfer. Will the city authorities publish their own criteria and ratio, or will there be a national-level instruction? Also, I’d like to know, as the guidelines mentioned that legal and stable employment and residence will probably be part of the criteria, shall we publish related regulations to ensure the fairness of the point system? Thank you. 2014-07-30 11:22:17

Huang Ming: The cities should establish their own point system according to its practical conditions. However, as the central authority’s policy has explicated, the State Council will hold a project deployment conference to specify detailed requirements and ensure the hukou transfer system will control total population and guarantee fairness, transparency and legality. Please be assured that each city authority will do so. Thank you. 2014-07-30 11:22:56

Yang Zhiming: Stable employment is one of the conditions. According to the guideline, we take those who have an employment contract as being employed, and the contract here includes the seasonal, short-term, simple contract that is frequently used in the construction and catering industry. This will make it convenient for migrant workers to integrate into companies, help their children fit into schools and their families merge into the community. It will set the stage for migrant workers to become city residents. 2014-07-30 11:24:05

Ta Kun Pao: Please briefly introduce the measures to protect the peasants’ farmland use right, homestead use right and collective income distribution right? Thank you. 2014-07-30 11:54:09

Zhao Yang: We have three basic concerns over this issue. First, the three important rights of peasants are conferred by law. The farmland use right and homestead use right are conferred by multiple laws including the property law and the Law of the Contract for Rural Land. The collective income distribution right is a peasant’s legitimate property right as members of rural economic collectives. Therefore, we should protect the rights of peasants according to the law. As of now, we are actively pushing forward the central authority’s policy on maintaining the existing land contract relations in the long term. We are speeding up the process of land registration to protect peasants’ farmland use and homestead use rights. At the same time, we are actively promoting reform on the property rights system with the goal of exploring a more efficient collective economic pattern, which effectively protects peasants’ collective income property right and distribution right. 2014-07-30 11:54:44

Zhao Yang: Second, for those peasants who transfer their hukou to urban areas, we should respect their will on whether or not to give up their rights for money. The new urbanization should be a prolonged historic process, so the inflow of migrant workers to urban regions is not only a process of them adapting to city life, but also a process for city governments to provide them equal public service within their own capacity, and this is a gradually perfected process. That is the reason why the guideline keeps the “three rights” of peasants to leave them a second option. This will surely help smooth and harmonize our urbanization process. 2014-07-30 11:57:35