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Xiaogang Wu
, Director of the Centre for Applied Social and
Economic Research (CASER) at HKUST and HKUST IEMS Faculty
Associate, presented his research on income inequality in
urban Chinese cities as related to China’s urban-rural household
registration (“hukou”) system. His research focuses on the question:
why do some occupations in urban China pay more than others?
Although there have been many studies pointing out the
earnings disadvantages of rural citizens compared to their urban
counterparts, Prof. Wu’s study is unique in that it differentiates
between social exclusion based on hukou status and direct
wage discrimination. Using comprehensive data from China’s
2005 mini-census, Prof. Wu analyzed the disadvantage of being
a rural migrant by estimating linear regression models for the
determinants of workers’ earnings to test whether having a
rural hukou increased or decreased earnings after controlling for
education, experience, and gender. He further tested both within-
occupation and between-occupation pay differences for workers
with urban versus rural hukou status.
Surprisingly, within a given occupation, Professor Wu’s results
showed that, in the private sector, rural migrants earn even more
than locals, perhaps because they work longer hours or are more
willing to take extra wages instead of other benefits. However,
rural migrants were found to work in lower-paying occupations
on average, likely due to government regulations denying them
equal access to some jobs. Thus, Professor Wu concludes that
rural workers are disadvantaged primarily because of occupational
segregation as opposed to within-occupation discrimination.
Kam Wing Chan
, Professor
of Geography at the University
of Washington and a leading
expert on China’s urban-
rural household registration
(“hukou”) system, presented his
views on the current state of
China’s hukou system and its
potential for reform.
Prof. Chan began his talk
with a short history of China’s
hukou system, which has
be en i n p l a c e s i n c e t he
1950s, beginning as a form
of systematic segregation
between rural and urban populations to solve demographic and
logistical problems. This early form of the hukou system controlled
not only physical migration but also a person’s opportunities in
general, as persons without an urban hukou were prohibited from
the higher-quality jobs, education, and government benefits found
in China’s urban areas.
On the question of the abolishment of the hukou system, Prof.
Chan does not see the hukou system being repealed or replaced
any time soon, even if it does appear to be getting less and less
strict over time. Prof. Chan stated that, while the modern-day
hukou system does indeed allow some rural citizens to work and
live in urban areas, the system still prevents them from receiving the
basic social services offered to urbanites.
As Prof. Chan succinctly put it, these migrants to urban areas “are in
Registration Status, Occupational Segregation,
and Rural Migrants in Urban China
HKUST IEMS Academic Seminar (2015.03.23)
2015: Is China Abolishing the Hukou System?
HKUST IEMS Academic Seminar, co-organized with the Division of Social Science (2015.03.16)
Watch Prof Wu explain the key takeaways
from his seminar at
Find out more about the event at
While Chinese policymakers
a re ma k i ng p rog re s s i n
loosening some of the more
burdensome restrictions of the
hukou system, Prof. Wu stated
that future reforms to China’s
hukou system should focus on
the reduction in hukou-related
occupational segregation,
and the removal of other
social barriers hindering rural
migrants from gaining equal
access to occupations and
social services.
the city, but not of the city”. In no other aspect are these distinctions
more evident than with issues concerning children. To illustrate this
point, Prof. Chan quoted a portion of China’s official hukou policy,
which states that “all migrant children are our children, but don’t
really belong…They should return to their hometowns to have their
education.” This, along with urban-rural cultural differences, has led
to unrest and even violence.
To the central government’s credit, however, recent actions and
policies issued by the central government in Beijing seems to
indicate that China’s policymakers realize that the hukou system
is unsustainable, and will have to be gradually phased out.
Modern technology is allowing cities to sustain levels of growth
that were impossible fifty years ago, and efforts to better integrate
and assimilate rural migrants into urban areas may help ease the
transition to a hukou-less society.
That said, while Prof. Chan is pessimistic that China will dispose
of the system in the near future, he’s nevertheless optimistic that
reform will happen in a fashion unique to the Middle Mingdom:
slowly, but surely.
