On December 12, 2012, David Pierson writes in the Los Angeles Times that in China, the hukou (pronounced WHO-ko) limits where citizens can live and work, dividing 1.3 billion people into “urban” and “rural.” But today, the registration system threatens China’s future as a powerhouse economy.
For millions of Chinese, the difference between a life of struggle and one of opportunity comes down to a little red booklet known as the hukou.
Introduced 54 years ago under Mao Tse-tung as a means of social control, this household registration permit limits whereChina’s 1.3 billion citizens can live, work and go to school by splitting them into two categories — urban and rural.
China, as with ALL developing technological-driven economies needs to enable every man, woman, and child to become an owner of ever-advancing labor-displacing technologies, new and sustainable energy systems, new enterprises, new infrastructure assets, and productive land and natural resources as a growing and independent source of their future incomes.
On the basic issue of economic empowerment of each individual, the essential goal needs to be economic democracy, which will finally make political democracy a meaningful reality.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-hukou-20121212,0,1248525.story
