Why It's Time for China to Reform the Household Registration System

Abstract

was causing for the rural population. Since it was extremely relevant to the contest, I decided to write about it. WFR: How did you research your essay topic and what sources were the most useful? Sia: Most of my research on the topic was from research journals that my school subscribes to, with other research from keeping up with current affairs. I found JSTOR [a U.S.-based online archiving system that provides full-text searches of digitized back issues of many well-known academic journals] particularly useful as it provided me with a wide range of information which I could find easily using a few search terms. WFR: In your essay, you do a great job of showing the disadvantages and obstacles that rural children face as a result of the Hukou system, particularly with regard to education. Your proposals include building more schools to cater to the growing numbers of urban residents as ruralto-urban migration continues. What will happen to these children—and to the country as a whole— if the law continues to prevent them from reaching their full potential? Sia: We can expect the income and educational disparity to widen between the rural and urban Chinese populations. This would create more discord between the urban elite and rural populations, similar to that which we see in Thailand today. Such a problem could fester for years without resolution. Jeremy J. Sia is a twelfth-grade student at Raffles Institution in Singapore. As part of his academic program, Jeremy took part in the Future Problem Solving Program Singapore, achieving National Champion status with his team in the Global Issues Problem Solving Division. In his free time, Jeremy enjoys playing business management games and crafting proposals to improve on their realism. In his essay, Jeremy examines the issues surrounding China’s controversial household registration system, focusing particular attention on the social and economic difficulties that rural Chinese are facing because of it. World Future Review: Why did you choose to write about the social and economic difficulties that China’s Hukou system of household registration causes for the rural population? Jeremy J. Sia: Schools in Singapore send representatives to schools in Southeast Asia, China, and India to recruit students every year, and provide them with a Singapore education from the ninth to twelfth grades. I am fortunate to have a class consisting of students from many different countries, half of whom hail from China. As such, I am more privy than most Singaporean students to developments in China. This has allowed me to learn more about some of the problems faced by Chinese citizens, one of which is the household registration system. For this contest, I researched some of the problems that my classmates have mentioned, and found out about the social Why It’s Time for China to Reform the Household Registration System