Who has written off my hukou?

Some senior citizens in rural areas of Henan province recently found that local police stations had cancelled their hukou (household registration). The case reveals the flaws in grassroots governments' management, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

Many senior citizens in Handan county, Henan province, were recently shocked to find their hukou (registration of permanent residence) had been cancelled by local police stations 11 years ago. This has deprived the poor old farmers their right to social welfare.

In 1998, the Handan county government reportedly pooled resources from every villager. In order to keep part of the collections, village officials lied to local police stations that many of the elderly people had died. This trick prevented them from submitting the senior citizens' share to the local governments. In other words, the village heads cheated the elderly people, as well as the government.

Handan's is not an isolated case. Similar cases have been reported from Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong and Hebei provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

These cases reveal how the bureaucratic system works at the grassroots' level. The bureau of public security didn't even crosscheck the information given by the village heads when it should have been alarmed at the death of a large number of senior citizens.

It is unbelievable, too, that the Handan county government didn't know about the case at all. Government officials need to pay more attention to the well being of ordinary citizens. Had they shown even a little concern for the villagers and their condition, the malpractice would have come to light right at the outset.

(China Daily 11/05/2009 page9)