The hukou system and China's rural development

摘要

In the analysis of the hukou system (a collective system), the paper particularly discusses the claims of Selden, Cheng, and Xiao Zhou, who are representative of widely expressed arguments against the system. The period under review covers the yearsbetween the inception of collectivization in the mid-1950s and the dismantling of collective farming in the early 1980s, unless specified otherwise. The paper interviews more than 200 people, over a period of ten years in Shandong and Henan, China. Issues discussed are: the origins of the hukou system; the hukou system and entitlement benefits; the hukou system and mobility; the hukou system as a safety net for rural people; social consequences of the hukou system; hukou and collective farming; two models of rural development: and rural industries and migration.