Telephones have been ringing almost non-stop at registration service offices across Guangzhou City since last Friday when the provincial capital of south China's Guangdong began to accept applications from migrant workers hoping to become permanent residents.

The prosperous Guangdong Province is the temporary home of more than 26 million farmer-turned-migrant workers, some of whom have long hoped to change the word "temporary" to "permanent" so they can send their children to public schools without being charged extra money and qualify for public medical insurance and government welfare payments, just like the registered permanent residents- those who have a Guangdong urban "hukou", or household registration permit.

To close the gap in the urban-rural divide that has long been a sore spot for the country's sustainable development and speed up urbanization, Guangdong unveiled a scoring system in June for the millions of farmer-turned-workers hoping to settle in cities and towns.

A migrant worker will be qualified to apply for urban household registration once his or her scores accumulate to 60. At the same time, his or her minor children, or even spouses in some cities, could also become registered.

Under the system, migrant workers earn different points depending on their educational background, skill level, social security records and participation in charity activities such as donating blood. For example, a senior high school graduate will receive 20 points, compared to 80 points for a university graduate, and criminal records and other offending behaviors will lead to a deficit in points.

However, for a metropolis like Guangzhou, the threshold for new citizens is higher. A minimum of 85 points is required by the city for migrant workers to receive a Guangzhou hukou.

The provincial capital is among the first nine cities, including Shenzhen, Huizhou, Dongguan and Zhongshan, which have already mapped out their own policies on requests for the provincial government. The remaining 12 cities are still preparing, according to Li Changfeng, deputy director of the provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security (DHRSS).

As of July, more than 17,000 migrant workers had become citizens of Guangdong through the scoring system, according to the department.

Further, Lin Wangping, another DHRSS deputy director, estimated that 1.8 million migrant workers would become urban residents in Guangdong via the scoring system by the end of 2012.

GROUND BREAKING MOVE

Some experts and media reports have referred to the scoring system as a ground breaking move for China's "hukou system" -- long criticized for hindering free labor movement, which is essential to building a modern economy and urbanization.

The hukou is a household registration permit that contains all of a household's identifying information, such as parents' names, births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Most importantly, it identifies the city, town or village to which a person belongs.

However, the hukou is far more than just a data system for the government to manage information about its citizens. The benefits attached to the hukou are what makes it so sought-after.

Residents without a local hukou cannot enjoy medical and social insurance provided by the local government and their children are not allowed to attend public school, unless they pay extra fees.

In the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's Proposal for Formulating the 12th Five-Year Program for China's Economic and Social Development (2011-2015), which was issued last month, the ruling party has stressed that accelerating urbanization would be an important mission during the next five years.

It specifically mentioned the task of making rural residents, who qualify under certain conditions, to gradually become urban residents .

Urban citizens accounted for 63.4 percent of Guangdong's total population in 2009, the highest level among China's provinces. The province aimed to achieve an urbanization target of 67.5 percent by the end of 2012.

Besides hampering urbanization, some also say the hukou system has created a two-tiered system of haves and have-nots among urban and rural residents, which is unfair and fails to ensure equal access to public services.

Efforts have been made before by many provinces to reform the hukou system by relaxing rules and allowing people to acquire a local hukou if they meet certain requirements, such as buying property or investing a large sum of money.

However, the scoring system provides alternatives for rural residents who cannot afford to buy homes or make investments and is more systematic and fair as applicants can obtain points through various ways such as education, skills, not violating the family-planning policy and participating in charity activities such as donating blood. Names of those qualifying would be publicized for public scrutiny before being finalized.

CITY LIFE OR RURAL LAND

In order to receive an urban hukou in Xiaolan under Zhongshan City, Tang Qijun and his wife had to surrender about 1,300 square meters of farmland back in his hometown in Qingyuan City, just a two hour drive from Xiaolan.

The 35-year-old father chose his two daughters' education over the rural land, as the girls cannot get into a better public high school without a local hukou.

But many are still hesitating, as they believe, if all else fails, they can still go back and make a living from the land.

Besides, land near cities is becoming more and more valuable as many Chinese cities are expanding.

"At least three of my co-workers are taking a wait-and-see attitude about getting an urban hukou since development zones will be built on their rural land, which will definitely push up land prices," said Zhang Jianhong, a former Jiangxi Province hukou holder who has just become a Zhongshan resident so his straight-A daughter can attend the best public high school in the city.

Also, some are questioning the fairness of this system because of the high threshold since university graduates can obtain the hukou much easier than high school graduates, who make up a significant part of the migrant population.

However, cities cannot be opened to the entire migrant population overnight because of limited local resources. The middle path is to establish some conditions and let some people become urban residents first, said Feng Jiehong, a offical in Xiaolan.

"Urbanization should be accelerated step by step as we must consider how much local resources can take in a short amount of time," said Zheng Zizhen, an expert with the Guangdong Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2010)