Chapter 52 Section 5 The Past and Present of the Household Registration System

Among the many "Chinese characteristics", the household registration system is a strong one. Looking at all countries in the world today, no other country has such a strict and thorough household registration system as China. In the era of the planned economy, China's dual structure of closed household registration management mode constituted a rare iron wall in the world, which once firmly bound people to the place of household registration.Without the household registration book, a person cannot receive rations or find a job.Even today when the household registration system has been greatly loosened, the procedures for handling household registration are still strict and complicated.Except for a few cases such as graduation assignments and personnel transfers, it is difficult for ordinary foreign practitioners to obtain household registration in the city where they live.

In most countries, citizens have the freedom to move freely within their own country without the consent of the public security department.A farmer finds a job or buys a house in the city, moves into the city, and immediately becomes a city resident without any need for "conversion from agriculture to non-farm".Similarly, citizens do not need to go through any transfer procedures when they move from one city to another.In this sense, in most countries, the basic rights enjoyed by all citizens are equal, and there is no distinction between "urban residents" and "countrysiders", "local residents" and "non-local residents".

Similarly, in most countries in the world, including developing countries, the public security departments do not have the right to obtain detailed information on individual citizens, nor do they rely on household registration to manage social security.For example, in Canada, the only document similar to the household registration book—the birth certificate is issued by the hospital, and a copy can be kept, while the original is kept by the individual.In China, the household registration is issued by the public security department and is kept in the department. Until now, China's household registration system still has a series of characteristics that other countries' household registration systems do not have: social segmentation, dual reinforcement, hierarchy, hereditary, ultra-stability, and functional diversity.

In the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty, people were born unequal, and the household registration was divided into official, ordinary citizen and humble.Some people are born to enjoy special treatment, while others are born to be discriminated against.For example, official families can enjoy the privilege of being an official first (yin compensation) and the qualifications for tax reduction and exemption, while military households, happy households, and beggar households are classified as humble.This hierarchical spirit still lives in China today, but it has been simplified into two major classes: urban hukou and rural hukou.

In the Ming Dynasty, the main function of household registration was for public security, so it was necessary to know each other's business.In contrast, the household registration management system formed in our planned economic system is also a social security network that spreads all over the country and all industries, covering all members of society.Today's streets basically replicate the functions of Lijia, and the police station has all the "ding" and "ye" information in the area under its jurisdiction for the government to grasp. Tradition and modernity overlap at every level in today's China.Suits and ties have already replaced robes and jackets, buses and cars have replaced carriages and sedan chairs, and the same reinforced concrete buildings have swept away the old houses.However, this is only the appearance.Under the cloak of modernization, the core of traditional China is spinning as serenely, calmly, and terrifyingly as it was thousands of years ago.