People's Republic of China
The People's Republic of China (PRC) maintains a system of residency registration in mainland China known as hukou, by which government permission is needed to formally change one's place of residence. This system effectively controlled internal migration before the 1980s, but subsequent market reforms caused it to collapse as a means of migration control. An estimated 150 to 200 million people are part of the "blind flow" and have unofficially migrated, generally from poor, rural areas to wealthy, urban ones. However, unofficial residents are often denied official services such as education and medical care and are sometimes subject to both social and political discrimination.
Hong Kong and Macau residents need Home Return Permits, issued by the PRC government through the Guangdong Public Security Bureau, to enter mainland China. The system was put in place when Hong Kong and Macau were under British and Portuguese rule. It was retained after their sovereignty was transferred to the PRC in 1997 and 1999, respectively, under the One country, two systems policy. The PRC government denies permit applications from people viewed as a threat to national security. Residents of mainland China wishing to visit Hong Kong or Macau require a Two-way Permit, issued by local Public Security Bureaus in the mainland. The requirement for applying for a travel permit has recently been relaxed under the Individual Visit Scheme for residents of Guangdong province, all the province-level municipalities and a number of other major cities.
Read more about this topic: Internal Passport
Famous quotes containing the words people, republic and/or china:
“The 1950s to me is darkness, hidden history, perversion behind most doors waiting to creep out. The 1950s to most people is kitsch and Mickey Mouse watches and all this intolerable stuff.”
—James Ellroy (b. 1948)
“Jean Jacques Rousseau ... is nothing but a fool in my eyes when he takes it upon himself to criticise society; he did not understand it, and approached it with the heart of an upstart flunkey.... For all his preaching a Republic and the overthrow of monarchical titles, the upstart is mad with joy if a Duke alters the course of his after-dinner stroll to accompany one of his friends.”
—Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (1783–1842)
“In a country where misery and want were the foundation of the social structure, famine was periodic, death from starvation common, disease pervasive, thievery normal, and graft and corruption taken for granted, the elimination of these conditions in Communist China is so striking that negative aspects of the new rule fade in relative importance.”
—Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989)