China plans to abolish legal distinctions between urban residents and peasants in 11 provinces as the government tries to slow the country’s surging wealth gap and reduce social unrest, state media said Wednesday.
Under an experimental program, local governments in those provinces will allow peasants to register as urban residents and to have the same rights to housing, education, medical care and social security that city dwellers have.
If carried out as advertised, the program would eliminate a cornerstone of the population control policies begun by Mao in the 1950’s. The system of residence permits, known as hukou, ties every person to a locale and once made travel difficult without permission.
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