China's Hukou System

By 2010, 260 million citizens were living outside of their permanent hukou location, a major challenge to the constrictive Mao-era system of migration and settlement planning. Jason Young shows how these new forces have been received by the state and documents the process of change and the importance of China's hukou system.

“The detailed overview of the many regulations and directives involving hukou across the different locales is informative, and provides readers with a good understanding of the evolution and origin of the system. … a good fit for those interested in learning more about the hukou system, and for those who study institutionalism. The book is also brief, which makes it an easy reference for anyone who wants to situate hukou in some of the larger economic reform trends in China.” (Carrie Liu Currier, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Vol. 21, 2016)

Jason Young is Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Research Associate at the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre. He researches Chinese politico-economic development, including land, hukou and agricultural reform, the international relations of East Asia and New Zealand-China trade and investment.