ABSTRACT
A major source of sociopolitical control and governance in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been the hukou (household registration) system. Since the early days of the PRC, the hukou system has functioned in crucial ways to organize and control society through creating and policing divisions, exclusion, and discrimination. It has played a key role in directing and allocating resources internally and shaping the socioeconomic landscape, creating an environment in which rapid but highly uneven economic growth has occurred under the aegis of a strong authoritarian state. Key institutional and social features such as the rural-urban dichotomy and large regional gaps and the related social tensions and conflicts, for example, are a product of the hukou system.
