[The Epoch Times, July 12, 2022](The Epoch Times reporters Luo Ya and Cheng Jing interviewed and reported) The National Development and Reform Commission of the Communist Party of China suddenly announced today (12th) the reform measures for the household registration system. The CCP has implemented the household registration system for more than 70 years. Analysis believes that the household registration system has made hundreds of millions of farmers into second-class citizens for a long time. Why is it released at this time? Because China’s economy has been in a long-term downturn, the government is seriously short of money, or has other plans.
The official website of the National Development and Reform Commission of the Communist Party of China announced today a notice on printing and distributing the “14th Five-Year Plan” new-type urbanization implementation plan. Regarding the deepening of the reform of the household registration system, the notice stated that, except for a few megacities, the restrictions on household registration will be relaxed, and the household registration system based on the place of habitual residence will be implemented on a trial basis. .
The notice also states several key points for the reform of the household registration system:
*Completely cancel the restrictions on urban settlements in cities with a permanent population of less than 3 million, and ensure that the standards for migrants from other places and local agricultural migrants to settle in cities are treated equally.
* Comprehensively relax the conditions for settlement in large I-type cities with a permanent population of 3 million to 5 million in urban areas.
*Improve the points settlement policy for super-large cities with a permanent population of more than 5 million in urban areas, simplify the points items, ensure that the social insurance payment period and the number of years of residence are the main proportions, and encourage the cancellation of the annual quota limit.
The notice also stated that each city will formulate specific settlement methods to promote the agricultural transfer population who have stable employment and living in urban areas to settle in cities with their families, and enjoy the same rights and fulfill the same obligations as urban residents. The notice also mentioned that the rural land contract rights and homestead use rights of farmers who settled in cities were guaranteed.
Long-term household registration system farmers become second-class citizens
This household registration system, which controls population movement, was introduced by the CCP in 1950 at the beginning of its establishment, and the agricultural population was excluded from the distribution of welfare resources, which has long been criticized by people.
Chinese-American economist Li Hengqing told The Epoch Times that as many as 80 to 90 percent of Chinese residents are agricultural populations, and the Communist Party has been using the registration system to exploit and oppress farmers.
The so-called agricultural population, Li Hengqing said, “There is no subsidy for non-staple food, and there is no local preferential policy; like when we were young, in addition to the household registration book, there was a subsidy certificate for non-staple food, such as buying sugar, buying cakes, buying meat, etc., but the rural population has money. I can’t buy it, let alone I don’t have the money.”
“And now cities with a population of less than 3 million have liberalized household registration, and cities with a population of 3 to 5 million have liberalized household registration, so farmers can become residents?! The residents should enjoy various welfare subsidies from the local government.
“For us, of course we welcome it, but the government’s idea may be to hide evil intentions,” he said.
Is the CCP government running out of money trying to boost consumption to boost the economy?
For decades, China’s economic circles have been calling for the abolition of the household registration system. Current affairs commentator Li Lin told The Epoch Times that the free movement of people means an increase in productivity.
After Xi Jinping came to power, in November 2013, in the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform”, he proposed to speed up the reform of the household registration system, “to fully relax the restrictions on the settlement of small cities, and in an orderly manner to release restrictions on the settlement of medium-sized cities. Reasonably determine the conditions for settlement in big cities.”
However, the reform of the household registration system has not been able to be promoted. Why is the household registration restriction suddenly lifted now?
Li Hengqing analyzed that, “Because the government has no money, what should I do? It wants to solve the problem of money bags. In the past, the biggest source of money bags was real estate development, and land was sold to develop real estate. Now a lot of houses are built and idle there, and no one is there. to buy.”
“The authorities’ goals are very clear now. What evil is hiding? It is to let these farmers who have entered the city to consume.”
He said, “The first thing is to consume real estate and buy a house. These house slaves in the city have been exploited almost. Then, when buying a house, you need to buy furniture, electrical appliances, and various supporting things to create consumption.”
“It’s all about boosting consumption, boosting the economy, and creating jobs. But isn’t it possible to achieve the goal? I don’t think rural people are necessarily stupid, and they may not be fooled. The important thing is whether they have money,” he said.
He also believes, “Even if farmers are rich, real estate prices are falling now, and houses are priced without market. If you bought a house today and the price will drop tomorrow, do you dare to buy it? In principle, such a large-scale investment (now) is not an option. Time to buy.”
Li Hengqing warned, “If you are a discerning person, you should cover your purse at this time and move when you see it.”
Regarding the introduction of the policy of relaxing household registration restrictions, Li Linyi also said that it is to promote the economy, “China’s economy is already in a long-term downward trend, and the CCP has seen that the economy will decline rapidly if no substantive measures are introduced. Under the circumstances, this part of the policy to relax the restrictions on settlement has been introduced.”
He believes that now only some cities have relaxed, and it is foreseeable that as the economy gets worse and worse, even megacities will eventually relax restrictions on settlement. In fact, Shanghai has already started to do it. In recent years, Shanghai has continuously introduced various policies for graduate students to settle in Shanghai.
Household registration itself is not the key to the CCP or is it something else?
In addition, human rights activist Chen Guangcheng analyzed the Epoch Times that the CCP’s relaxation of household registration restrictions may have other plans. “In fact, many rural people work in cities and have lived in cities for a long time through other means. This is already a In fact, the Communist Party has only loosened this hukou now, and it doesn’t really make much sense.”
Qin Hui, a professor of history at the School of Humanities of Tsinghua University, once accepted an exclusive interview with the NetEase Finance column, saying, “The household registration itself is not the key. The key is to get rid of the three major inequalities behind the household registration, the inequality of human rights, property rights and public services.” He criticized this The household registration system divides people into grades and calls for treating vulnerable groups as people.
On November 18, 2017, a fire broke out in a simple house in Daxing District, Beijing, killing 19 people. Cai Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, took the opportunity to drive more than 100,000 so-called “low-end people” living in the suburbs of Beijing out of Beijing on the grounds of “eliminating potential security risks”. The “low-end population” are the migrant workers who live and work in Beijing.
Li Hengqing said, “I still have a fresh memory, these ‘low-end population’ provided a lot of services to Beijing, and finally they were blown out in the cold wind. I read a lot of reports, and I was so angry that I couldn’t sleep. It was so hard back then, why didn’t you do it?”
At present, the household registration system in large and medium-sized cities, which really provides rich benefits to residents, has not been liberalized. Chen Guangcheng said, “So it doesn’t really say that the CCP wants to change the second-class citizenship of farmers.”
“The CCP may have other attempts to get all the peasants into the city, and they can use other reasons to take away your land, right? Especially the ones in towns and suburbs, if you are turned into a city hukou, then your land It may be taken away, and then the government will sell the money, then build it…and deprive the farmers in some form,” he said.
In response to the CCP’s promise to “guarantee the rural land contract rights of farmers who have settled in cities”, Li Hengqing said, “The Chinese people have lost their trust in the government. This is the Tacito Trap, which means that you have been doing bad things, using the people as an excuse, and in the end you will be a disaster. The people have long since lost everyone’s trust, how can you dare to trust you when you suddenly say good things?”
Responsible editor: Li Qiong#