PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

China and Vietnam are of the few countries that still implement household registration (hukou in Chinese and ho khau in Vietnamese). Regarded as one of the most important institutional mechanisms that underlie and sustain the profound rural–urban division in both countries, the systems record the mundane attributes of each individual of a household yet determine many of the vital aspects of the life, if not the fate, of citizens, particularly the rural-urban migrants. The change and continuity of these systems are closely associated with these countries’ economic and social development, interacting with other processes such as industrialisation, liberalisation of the labour market, urbanisation, and rural development. Despite recent reforms, the household registration systems in both countries continue to shape migrant workers’ ability to access welfare.