EVENTS

China’s household registration (hukou) system has long determined access to public services and welfare benefits based on the place of registration. In May 2026, the Chinese government proposed making the place of residence a basis for access to public services rather than the place of household registration. Although successive reforms have attempted to remove hukou restrictions, migrants continue to face conditions on access to education, housing, healthcare and social protection. The recent measures build on decades of reform and reflect the emphasis on people-centered development under Xi Jinping. However, national policy objectives depend heavily on local implementation. Provincial and municipal governments remain responsible for financing and providing public services. Thus, it is necessary to look beyond Beijing and examine the diverse urban and administrative settings in which these reforms are implemented. The challenge lies not only in reforming registration rules but also in ensuring that local governments have the financial and administrative capacity in order to provide public services to a migrant population. These conditions raise questions about central-local relations, regional inequalities and the financial sustainability of urban welfare. The success of China’s hukou reforms, therefore, depends on how local governments translate national policy objectives into public-service provision.

Speaker

Hritika Patil is a Research Analyst at the Pune International Centre (PIC). Her research interests include Chinese politics, political economy, governance and culture. She also curates a weekly newsletter on China, ‘The Tianxian View.’ She is a language enthusiast learning Mandarin and Spanish.

Chair

Ritu Agarwal is Associate Professor at the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She holds a PhD in Chinese Studies from the University of Delhi. Her research interests include rural political economy, urbanization, property rights, gender studies, and provincial politics. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, Kunming and a Visiting Fellow at Yunnan University and Yunnan Minzu University. Her latest work is an edited volume titled The Border Province Reimagined: Yunnan’s Economic and Cultural Ties to Asia, published by Palgrave, Macmillan.

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