Background slide

“Hukou” is a system of population management in China that assigns all citizens an identifying document at birth that notes the region (hukou) in which they were born and whether that region has historically been rural or urban. Individuals can only live and work in their hukou and can only receive social services within their hukou. While there have recently been some reforms to increase access to work and residency permits for migration between rural areas, urban centers today still largely enforce these restrictions.