This document compares household registration systems in China and France. China's hukou system restricts internal migration and limits access to welfare benefits based on one's place of registration. France's system of etat civil and livret de famille records individuals' civil status without restrictions on movement. Both systems aim to identify individuals and collect population statistics. While France's system is person-based, China's is still tied to one's hukou status and location. The document discusses reforms to China's system to promote mobility and balanced economic growth.
2. CHINA – HUKOU SYSTEM
Fragmented legislations about household
registration system
“Hukou Registration Ordinance”(戶口登記條例)
Rural households and urban households
Get approval from officials before migration
Differentia in welfare systems and political rights
3. CHINA – CHARACTERS
Socio-political control
Internal migration control
Resource allocation –private goods
Resource allocation – public goods
4. FRANCE –
ETAT CIVIL AND LIVRET DE FAMILLE
Civil Status (Etat Civil)
Established by François 1er in 1593
Made by Catholic Church
Parish registers of baptisms, marriages
and deaths
Secularisation in 1792
Family Records Booklet
(Livret de Famille)
in 1877 to now
5. SIMILARITIES
Individualisation of a citizen
Name, nationality, place of residence, gender, marriage
Entitlement of rights and obligation
Right (school education, participation in local elections…)
Obligations (family planning…)
7. DIFFERENCES
China France
Functions
Social control +
resource allocation
Social control
recording
Types of social control
Political control one-
party authoritarian rule
Religious cancelled
Internal labour
“borders within a border”
- Separation of the rural
population from the city
one
In France:
No restriction
France within EU:
Free movement of
8. China France
Welfare system Hukou-based Person-based
Political rights
Hukou-based Person-based
Responsible
‘Police Status’
-Public Security Organs
(公安機關)
‘Civil Status’
-Mayor of cities and
municipalities
(le Maire)
Term of validity 5 years – permanent Permanent
9. CHINESE HOUSEHOLD REGISTRATION SYSTEM
IMPACTS AND DRAWBACKS
Limits the population movement
within the country social
problems
Several reform initiations
Reform needed big-bang
10. EXCHANGING PRACTICES BETWEEN FRANCE
IN THE EU AND CHINA
Practices in France China Possible solution
Same social
benefits no matter
where you live
Free movement of
labour within EU
Current problem: To give equal standing
as locals in the labour
market, social welfare
system
Emergence of
officially sanctioned
discrimination against
migrants in urban
areas
11. EXCHANGING PRACTICES BETWEEN FRANCE
IN THE EU AND CHINA
Practices in France China Possible solution and
effect
No limitation on rural-
urban migration
Urbanization
From 1946 to 1985, the
population of towns
40 55
million
→ Massive investment
France's housing
infrastructure in the
1950s and 1960s
Current problems: Promoting the mobility
Unbalanced
economic growth
→ by 2015
45% 65%
If allowed,
→ ↑16% domestic
consumption
→ boost the economy
→ Better distribution of
resources