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The Inheritance Of Inequality: Hukou<.I> And Related Barriers To Compulsory Education For China's Migrant Children, Jessica L. Montgomery

Washington International Law Journal

The hukou system in China uses residency permits to divide Chinese citizens into urban and rural dwellers. A person’s hukou status determines his or her access to state services. Under normal circumstances, a person with a rural hukou status is not eligible for state services in urban areas, and vice versa. Because hukou is primarily inherited from one’s parents at the time of birth, children born in urban areas to parents with rural hukou are similarly designated as rural hukou holders. As a result, children living in cities with rural hukou are ineligible for enrollment in urban public schools even …