According to a China Academy of Social Sciences study, migrant workers are reluctant to relinquish their rural residency permits, or hukou. Details from Asia Times Mitch Moxley:
Yu Mengxiang is a 24-year-old office manager at a foreign company in Beijing. Although he looks and acts like a typical urban male, his household registration – or hukou – is in a village in northeast Liaoning province, which means he isn’t entitled to government benefits in the capital. Bucking conventional wisdom, he doesn’t want any.
Yu isn’t alone. Recent studies reveal a significant majority of migrant workers living in cities are reluctant to give up their rural hukou, surprising scholars and experts who have long called for a significant overhaul to China’s household registration system.
According to a recent study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 80% of migrants interviewed said they were reluctant to give up their rural hukou. A separate survey by the Chongqing Municipal Agricultural Department found that just 30% of the 350 migrant workers interviewed wanted to give up their land in exchange for an urban hukou.
