The Origins and Social Consequences of Hukou System - Article Example

The paper “The Origins and Social Consequences of China's Hukou System by Tiejun Cheng and Mark Selden" is a persuading example of an article on social science. This article mainly focuses on the strategy that was applied in China to ‘bind peasants to their collective-village’ at the same time ‘restricting entry to the major urban centers’ (Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden, 653). This is explained by the role played by the Hukou system in the collective transformation of China’s countryside.

In addition, it contributed significantly to the control of the population movement. This primarily sought to establish a balance between those who resided in the urban with those who lived in rural areas. So significant was the Hukou registration that without it, one could not be eligible for basic needs as well as freedoms. Thus, in order for one to gain access to primary needs such as food, clothing, education, and shelter, one ought to have been being having Hukou registration (Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden, 644).

The issue of unemployment had to be addressed in a manner that would be beneficial to the greatest population. Consequently, the government not only had the responsibility of creating more employment opportunities for the citizens but also establish ways in which the citizens themselves could initiate their own income-generating activities. To set the pace, the government set off decentralization of industries as well as social amenities. Relocating the industries, schools, hospitals among other social amenities to the countryside from the major urban centers was a critical move that ensured that employment opportunities were no longer concentrated in the main cities.

As a result, there were pull factors as well in the rural areas that would contain those who resided in the areas as they would provide the industries with their labor. Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden (646), also observe that the government took the responsibility of feeding the population in the urban areas who were unemployed. Also, the government undertook the provision of assistance to the wartime refugees to facilitate their resettling from the major cities to the countryside (Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden, 647).

Relocation of ‘the unproductive’ from major cities to the countryside was, however, smooth compared to the anticipation of the challenges that it would present. Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden (648) observe that this was due to the very nature of the relocation having being voluntary. As a result, especially those who had been affected by push factors in the urban areas, a substantially impressive number of emigrants volunteered to move from the urban areas to the countryside. Moreover, they received financial support that majorly facilitated their relocation.

State subsidies were another factor that caused relative ease in migration. Not forgetting, the land distribution also played an important role in the enhancement of less coercive migration of the ‘unproductive’ from urban areas to the countryside (Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden, 648). According to Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden (644), the implementation of population control significantly reduced poverty in the major cities. This can be explained to be as a result of convenience that was caused by the relocation of the ‘unproductive’ from the urban areas.

The productivity had been left in these areas with no population that was unnecessarily dependent. However, those who had been previously considered ‘unproductive’, especially while they used to live in the urban areas, were transformed by the socioeconomic activities in which they got engaged within the countryside (Cheng, Tiejun, and Mark Selden, 651). One major activity was agriculture. Consequently, more rapid developments were experienced in the countryside after the influx of the population that previously inhabited urban areas.

This is an illustration of how the Hukou system affected the flow of labor between the two areas of residence; urban and rural.