Wu Zhicheng, a Beijing resident who has no hukou, checks a paper that may help him reinstate his household registration in January. Wu said he lost his hukou 43 years ago because of a mistake that occurred when the local police relocated it to his employer. (Photo by Wu Jiang/for China Daily)
As the Ministry of Public Security mulls new regulations to grant hukou (household registrations) and identification cards to those without them, these residents' problems are about to be solved, the Beijing News reported.
Every time Li Jing's (alias) baby daughter cries to ask for her dad, Li comforts her by saying: "Wait, wait, your daddy is working in another country."
The three-year-old is the second baby in the family. She hasn't got a hukou yet because the family didn't pay social maintenance fees for violating the one-child policy.
Li's husband was sent overseas by his company in October. Although the family were allowed to go with him, Li stayed with the two children at home as the younger child could not obtain a passport.
Data from the sixth nationwide census reveals that the number of residents without a hukou in the country exceeds 13 million.
The group mainly includes children born in violation of the family planning policy, those born of single mothers, abandoned children and those who have lost relevant documents, according to a survey conducted by Wan Haiyuan, an associate researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission, last year.
Due to the absence of a hukou, most do not have access to normal education, jobs and social welfare. As the real-name system is being implemented in the country, they cannot even take trains or see a doctor in hospitals.
Last month, the Ministry of Public Security vowed to address the problem and grant the group hukou and identification cards. Although a detailed plan has not been released, a new chapter is to open.
As highlighted in Wan's survey, cases with no hukou cover different situations. Apart from additional babies, children born out of wedlock and people who lost relevant certificates are also among the targeted group.
Earlier this year, two young people aroused people's attention by seeking donations of 40,000 yuan ($6,440) to cover the social maintenance fees of their baby at a crowdfunding website. The two were previously lovers but broke up when the woman was 17 weeks' pregnant.
Later, when the mother tried applying for a hukou for her newborn, she was required to pay a social maintenance fee and hand in the medical examination proving that the man was the biological father.
Social maintenance fees vary in different provinces, ranging from 30,000 yuan to 800,000 yuan.
Another type of case involves university graduates.
Students usually transfer their hukou from their hometown to university when starting campus life, and move it again after graduation. But sometimes graduates lose files needed for the transfer and then become one of those without a hukou.
The re-registration of a hukou took Wang Yuan (alias), a graduate from Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, more than six months.
A survey shows that except graduates, those without a hukou receive a lower level of education. About 44.2 percent are illiterate or have no formal education, and 30.7 percent only received elementary education.
According to Wan's survey, children born in violation of the family planning policy account for more than 50 percent of the total number with no hukou.
"The real number of household registrations is an important aspect of national conditions," said Lu Jiehua, a professor at Peking University, "For individuals, it's the pass for education, medical treatment and travel."
In July, Guangdong province further opened its hukou policy, allowing newborns in violation of the family planning policy and out of wedlock to have a hukou.
From Dec 1, the police bureau of Dalian, Liaoning province began to register all local residents without a hukou. Since October, second babies are also entitled to one.
A staff member of the household registration administration in Nanchang, Jiangxi province said that since last year additional babies could also have a hukou.
Wang Yan (alias) in Longyan city, Fujian province, got a hukou for her second baby in 2013. Before that, parents who had more than one child had to pay fines before getting one.
However, some parents are still afraid that they would be fined sooner or later if their second babies are registered.
The good news is that the standard of social maintenance fees in different provinces will be unified, which will lower fines in most places.
Though people who have more children than permitted to can apply for a hukou in future, the government still needs to clarify more rules to ease their worries, said Du Peng, director of the Institute of Gerontology at Renmin University of China.
