Bridging city-rural gaps no easy task

The State Council recently unveiled a set of guiding principles related to the reform of China's household registration system. Among other things, these guidelines state unequivocally that rural migrants residing in cities should be allowed to access community health and urban welfare services.

The government's latest steps to reform the household registration system have been praised by the public. Many believe such moves will lead to the freer exchange of social resources and accelerate China's adoption of a growth model that focuses on the interests of ordinary citizens. To a certain extent, such an outcome will be inevitable as the government eases administrative controls over the market.

Still, wealth distribution problems wrought by the country's decades-old household registration system are unlikely to go away any time soon. Bridging the urban-rural wealth gap will require financial support and policy collaboration between social welfare agencies at many different levels.

Moreover, a point-based mechanism will cap the number of rural people who can attain household registration in the city where they reside based on criteria such as job skills and social security payments.