Chinese Law and Politics Blog

NPC To Consider Electoral Reforms Giving Rural Residents Greater Voice

Chinese legislative authorities have proposed reforming the electoral law governing the allocation of seats in local and national legislative bodies in an effort to redress discrimination against rural residents, according to a spokesman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) quoted in a March 4 Xinhua article (English, Chinese). 

The PRC Election Law for National and Local People's Congresses establishes a 4:1 urban-rural ratio in electoral representation for national and provincial-level legislative bodies.  Rural legislative deputies to national and provincial bodies consequently represent four times as many constituents as their urban counterparts, leaving migrant and rural interests underrepresented.  [For more analysis, see this post from Don Clarke's China Law Prof Blog].  This reflects a broader pattern of institutional discrimination against migrant and rural residents on the basis of their hukou (household registration) status.  [For more analysis, see this topic paper (English, Chinese) of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.]

NPC spokesman Jiang Enzhu noted China's increasing urbanization created a need to amend the electoral law in order to gradually ensure equal representation for urban and rural residents.  He stated that the NPC standing committee had proposed that the reforms be included in the NPC legislative plan for 2008.  However, he noted that "it is up to the 11th NPC Standing Committee, to be elected at the upcoming session, to make final decision" as to whether to include such reforms.

Is Yunnan "Eliminating" the Hukou System?

Short answer – no. At least one website has reported that recent reforms undertaken by the provincial government of Yunnan will "eliminate" the household registration (hukou) system. This isn't the case.

The announced Yunnan reforms will eliminate the distinction between "agricultural" and "non-agricultural" hukou status, according to an October 25 Xinhua article.  Similar reforms have been announced by a number of other provinces and municipalities.  But they do not affect the requirement that migrants obtain local hukou in urban areas to receive public services and benefits on an equal basis with other urban residents.

Beijing Court Applies Urban Standards to Calculate Compensation Award for Death of Migrant

A Beijing intermediate court overturned a lower court decision and applied urban standards to calculate the death compensation award for a migrant killed in a traffic accident, according to an October 24, 2007 article carried on the People’s Net website.

Families of long-term migrants living in Chinese urban areas, but who still have rural hukou (household registration) status, often receive significantly less compensation than families of corresponding urban hukou holders killed in similar (or the same) accident. The legal basis for this discriminatory treatment lies in a 2003 judicial interpretation by the Supreme People's Court, but it reflects a deeper set of institutional biases that link a range of legal rights and public benefits to individuals' hukou identification rather than their actual place of residence. [For more information, see the topic paper of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China regarding the Chinese hukou system.]

The Beijing decision is an example of at least one court's willingness to flexibly apply relevant legal standards in practice, depart from a bright-line test based on hukou identification, and use higher urban compensation standards to ensure equitable death compensation awards for the families of long-term migrants living in urban areas. 

President Hu Jintao Calls for "Progressively" Equalizing Standards for Rural-Urban Legislative Representation

President Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, called for "progressively" equalizing standards for representation of the rural and urban population in China’s legislative organs, local people's congresses (LPC), in his work report to the 17th Party Congress on October 15.  If implemented, this measure would represent a step toward addressing one source of institutional discrimination against Chinese rural residents.

Under the PRC Election Law of the National People’s Congress and Local People’s Congresses, rural LPC deputies represent four times as many constituents as their urban counterparts. This increases the relative weight of urban interests in Chinese legislative bodies, but leaves migrant and rural interests underrepresented.

Hukou Reforms Under Consideration

Chinese authorities are considering reforms to the Chinese hukou (household registration) system. Proposed reforms would strengthen the system of temporary residence permits, expand the ability of the spouses and elderly parents of urban residents to relocate to China’s cities, and use the criteria of a "fixed, legal place of residence" as the touchstone for determining whether rural migrants can shift their hukou to urban areas.

Chinese scholars and officials note that the above reforms are merely under consideration. They also note that these reforms would not themselves address the pervasive linkage of hukou registration to a wide range of social and economic benefits, nor the resulting systematic discrimination against rural residents and migrants. But the proposed criteria for migrants to obtain hukou in urban areas do appear to be a mild liberalization over prior formulations used by Chinese authorities in the past.

Analysis: Henan Circular on Peaceful Construction

The Henan Provincial Party Committee and Government jointly issued a circular on April 26, 2006 that calls on provincial authorities to strengthen their controls over society and address a range of social problems during the period 2006 to 2010 as a means towards conducting "peaceful construction," establishing a "harmonious society," "improv[ing] the Party's ruling capacity," and "solidif[ying] the Party's position in power." Specific goals listed in the circular overlap with in the Opinion on Promoting the Construction of a New Socialist Countryside, issued by the Communist Party Central Committee (CPCC) and the State Council (SC) on December 31, 2005, and an earlier opinion issued by the general offices of the CPCC and the SC.

Translation: Henan Circular on Peaceful Construction

The following is a rough translation of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government Circular Regarding the Issuance of the "Program for Construction of a Peaceful Henan," issued  April 26, 2006.  (Translation done by Tom Stutsman)

SPC Considering Judicial Interpretation to Address Discrepancy in Death Compensation Awards for Urban and Rural Hukou Holders

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) is considering issuing a judicial interpretation to address discrepencies between rural and urban hukou holders in death compensation awards, according to comments made by March 14 by SPC President Xiao Yang and carried in a March 14 Xinhua post.

In 2006, Chinese media reported multiple cases in which long-term migrants living in Chinese urban areas (but still holding rural hukou registration) who were killed in traffic accidents received significantly less compensation than corresponding urban hukou holders killed in similar (or the same) accident.  See these posts (1, 2, 3) on the website of the Congressional-Executive Commission of China. The discrepency is a result of a 2003 SPC interpretation which links death awards to urban and rural hukou status, regardless of how long the deceased has actually been living in a given urban area.

It is unclear if or when the SPC will issue a judicial interpretation on the subject, or what the content might be.  Xiao Yang noted that experts consulted by SPC officials during the fall of 2006 regarding possible revisions were of different minds of how to address the subject.  But he asserted that the SPC has already reached preliminary consensus on the content.

Is The Hukou System Really Disappearing?

To listen to some official Chinese pronouncements and US media coverage, one might think that the Chinese hukou (household registration) system is on the verge of complete dismantlement. Wu Dong, chief of the Bureau for the Management of Public Order at the Ministry of Public Security announced on March 8 that Chinese authorities would deepen reform of the hukou system in 2007, according to a March 9 Legal Daily article reposted on the People’s Daily website. Reforms would aim at replacing temporary residence cards, migrant marriage documentation, and other controls over the migrant population with a unified residence permit system. 

Chinese provincial authorities have previously made announcements regarding the elimination of distinction between "agricultural" and "non-agricultural" hukou status. Western media has picked up on some of these pronouncements and characterized them as efforts to “abolish” or “eliminate” the hukou system.

This is wrong. The Chinese hukou system is not disappearing. But it is mutating.

Chinese Authorities "No. 1 Document" For 2007 Emphasizes Agricultural Economy

The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and State Council issued a joint opinion on January 29, identifying improvement of the agricultural economy as their main policy goal for 2007.   

The opinion, titled "Several Opinions Regarding Actively Developing Modern Agriculture and Firmly Advancing the Construction of the New Socialist Countryside" is the "Number One" document for 2007.  Chinese authorities use these "Number One" documents annually as a means to highlight policies for the coming year.  Each "Number One" document issued since 2004 has focused on rural issues.

The opinion heavily emphasizes agricultural economic development.  Reform measures include: increased agricultural investment, improved market access for agricultural products, encouraging rural technical innovation, and strengthening rural infrastructure

In contrast, the opinion only briefly addresses issues of rural governance reform.  It broadly calls on authorities to clean up the problems of local government debts, better address issues of land seizures, reform the system of agricultural credit, and continue experiments with reforming and trimming local government personnel.   

The opinion contains general language calling for strengthening rural institutions to address social instability.

Strengthen and improve rural social management.  With regard to new developments in the rural economy and society, develop new mechanisms of rural social managment to firmly strengthen the work of upholding rural social stability.  Expand channels for the expression of public opinion in rural society.  Construct and perfect mechanisms for the channeling and resolution of disputes.  Comprehensively use multiple measures and methods to appropriately resolve consistent and latent rural social problems.  Deeply expand "peaceful construction," strengthen the construction of rural police forces, carry out well the comprehensive management of public security in rural society, and ensure that  rural areas are peaceful and orderly.  Broadly carry out legal educational propaganda activities in rural areas and increase the masses' legal understanding.  Guide farmers to express their interests and demands in a legal and reasonable manner, and lawfully exercise their rights and  carry out their duties.  Construct management mechanisms to respond to rural emergencies, and improve abilities to respond to crises.

The emphasis of the 2007 opinion differs from the 2006 "No. 1 Document" , the Opinion on Promoting the Construction of a New Socialist Countryside, which emphasized many specific governance reforms, as noted in analysis provided by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).  For example, the 2007 opinion contains no explicit call for reforms to the Chinese hukou (household registration) system, nor specific details and timetable for realizing improvements in the provision of rural health and education services, unlike the 2006 opinion. 

The 2007 opinion repeats the emphasis of the 2006 opinion on the need for Party leadership of rural work. The 2007 opinion also strengthens a call made in the 2006 opinion for strengthening professional farmer cooperatives.  Some provincial authorities have experimented with more independent forms of rural professional associations as a means of allowing farmers additional channels to protect their rights, as noted in the CECC analysis.  The 2007 opinion also repeats a call made by central authorities in recent weeks to strengthen the use of financial incentives, as opposed to coercive measures,to ensure citizen compliance with official birth control policies.

The 2007 opinion may reflect a desire to shelve the more difficult issues of rural governance reform in favor of efforts to address technical issues of rural economic reform, particularly in the politically sensitive runup period prior to the 17th Party Congress in the fall.  Chinese authorities themselves have admitted that some official governance reform efforts, such as those aimed at addressing hukou reform, have faltered upon meeting internal bureaucratic opposition.