【正文】
stem e into being? How was it enforced during the Maoist era? What political, social, and economic forces brought about the changes in the hukou system? And what is the future of the hukou system? The Origin and Significance of the Household Registration System After 1949, China adopted a centralized mand planning system and a Stalinisttype economic development strategy. Maximizing the industrial output was the major concern of the economic planners. Given its limited financial and economic resources, the Chinese government elected to develop industry at the expense of agriculture. In order to induce unequal exchanges between industrial and agricultural sectors, the Chinese government had to create, first and foremost, a political mechanism that not only artificially separated industry from agriculture, and the cities from the countryside, but also blocked the free flow of resources, including labor. The Chinese solution was the hukou system. On January 9, 1958, the standing mittee of the First National People’s Congress passed “Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Residence Registration.” These regulations formally initiated a fullblown nationwide hukou system. It required each family in urban areas to register at the public security department and to hold a valid registration booklet. In the booklet, the name, birth date, occupation of each family member, residence of the amily, and family status (agricultural or nonagricultural) were China classified nearly 90 percent of the population living in the countryside as agricultural. This segment of the population was not allowed to change their hukou status or to migrate to urban areas. Anyone seeking officially sanctioned ruralurban migration was required to plete a dualapproval process: changing the place of regular hukou registration and converting hukou status from agricultural to nonagricultural (nongzhuanfei). To change the place of a hukou registration and to obtain a migration permit, an applicant was required to present appropriate documents to public security authorities. Converting a hukou tatus from agricultural to nonagricultural was subject to simultaneous “policy” (zhengce) and “quota” (zhibiao) controls. An applicant was required to satisfy the conditions set forth in the policy control criteria, while at the same time obtaining a space under the quota The process was usually extremely difficult. Enforcing the Hukou System From its inception, it was apparent that the hukou system could not function on its own. To assist the hukou system in controlling population mobility, collective farms were established throughout China. These farms were bestowed with government administrative functions. While the unit of the hukou registration was the household in cities and towns, it was the village in the countryside. Village collectives maintained a single register with the names of all households and individuals. Peasants were required to report to the collectives for daily work. If a peasant needed to travel, he was required to seek permission from his village to leave. If granted, he would receive a letter of introduction from the village, which would serve as an identification card during his Collectivization of the farm sector was pleted in 1956. Coupled with the hukou system, this assured a high degree of state control over the