Xinhua News republished an article on Feb. 13, 2008, about the reform of the Household Registration System. During the past 50 years, the system restricted the farmers from freedom of residence and migration and thus established a big gap between cities and rural areas. The upcoming reform focuses on how to grant national treatment to China’s own farmers. This unfair system facilitated the rapid industrialization of the cities at the cost of a large amount of individuals living in rural areas. Due to the huge size of the population impacted, the grand reform is becoming one of the hardest tasks in front of the government.
Source: Xinhua Net, Feb. 13, 2008.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-02/13/content_7598072.htm