Here in China, all foreigners must register with the local police within 24 or 72 hours of your arrival. Usually tourists are staying in a hotel approved for housing foreigners. (Hotels must be approved for foreign guests by the government and there will be a sign in the lobby displaying their approved status.) The hotel takes care of registering with the local police for you. When you check in, they'll make a copy of your passport/visa and fill out a form that has your passport info, the number of days you are staying, the city you came from and the city you are going to next. Sometimes you sign, sometimes not, but they give it to the local police. If you are staying with friends, you must go to the police station yourself to register. If I have a friend who comes to visit me for more than 24 hours from another city, I'm supposed to let my school know so they can register my guest with the local police.
Foreigners are also required to carry their passport with them at all times. If you get stopped by a policeman and you don't have your passport, they can give you a warning, make you pay a fine, or make you spend 2 weeks in jail, depending on what they want to do. Our Peace Corps security office has told us it is okay to carry only a copy of your passport and visa if you are in your home city, but if you travel, you must carry the original. So I have a copy of my passport and visa tucked into a zipped pocket of my purse at all times. I've never been asked for it, though. As of February 14th, I will also have to use my passport to purchase train tickets. It is a new law we just found out about.
Chinese nationals all carry ID cards, similar to our Social Security cards, but with pictures. They also have something called a 'hukou' 户口 ('who ko'). The hukou are a type of registration papers for where you live. From my understanding, it used to be that you had a hukou for your city or village, and you were not able to travel to or move any place outside of your hukou. You could be arrested or sent home. But now, there is only a rural/urban split for the hukou, and it mainly applies to buying or renting property, not traveling. For example, a friend here has a Chinese girlfriend. She looked into renting an apartment here, but her hukou is still registered in her rural hometown, so she can't rent an apartment here until she changes her hukou from rural to urban. You can apply to have your hukou changed, but it seems to be a bit of a process, because she is still working on it. However, I was also told recently that the restrictions for our city have been lifted, and anyone can rent or buy an apartment. Laws seem to be very fluid here. I was also told that in a popular city like Shanghai, it is difficult for people with a rural hukou to rent an apartment in the city. But, I wouldn't have a problem as a foreigner doing so.
I recently heard my city will also be actively working to get people who move here changed from rural to urban hukou so the city can receive more federal funding. I imagine this is similar to a city or state wanting to make they have accounted for everyone for voting and tax purposes. So maybe it will be easier in the future to change from a rural to urban hukou.
I will write more about my recent trip in coming days, but I thought this might be interesting to you, and it has been on my mind as I prepare for and go on my trips.
Wow... Never heard anything like that before. Sounds like Big Brother rules with an iron fist... :-o
ReplyDeleteI guess if you've not known anything else it's ok but man, I'd feel suffocated.
*shakes fist at oppression and surveillance*
A possible two weeks in jail if you're caught without your papers?? Just reading this post stressed me out...but I love all the info you give us!
ReplyDeleteCareful out there, Chica! Btw, please e-mail me your address again when you have time. I deleted the e-mail after I had written it down on paper...and I don't know what I did with the paper! :(
It sounds like mailing addresses. You have your permanent (mailing address) and mailing address. The license would show both, but mail from the government would go to the permanent address. This might be done for benefits or other reasons dealing with the government. If they insist on an address change at the permanent address that would be a problem because of benefits, but might be a plus for the other address in funding. The person will just choose the most beneficial address and the government really can't dictate what is your permanent or 'temporary' address.
ReplyDeleteThe rural to urban might have something to do with the
'native' uprisings that China forced response when they got involved with US policy issues.
PC has a new conflict/land/WID(natives are sometimes classed with these)program modeled after Mercy Corps.' Agriculture is being sued in the US. Hillary and Congress have an agenda and it seems to be showing up here, so where's it really from?; we'll have to see who shows up. Maybe it's farming issues?
The PC passort rule hasn't changed in 20 years.
Sounds very restrictive. Almost like they want to make sure they account for everyone and they keep everyone in their place. I dont like that at all. Goodness knows how many times I've changed residences in my life. Over 20 different addresses for me...I'd be screwed in China. Glad the US isnt like that...
ReplyDeleteI suppose this is why before traveling internationally we should always inquire about local laws/rules.
ReplyDeleteVery enlightening Rebecca. We have it so easy in the states...we go where ever we want.
My head hurts just trying to follow this!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea!! I'd be the girl who loses my ID. I'd have to have copies in every purse!
ReplyDeleteHi. I found you through Modern Mom and I'm glad I did. Very interesting experience you're having. I'd ask you to check out my blog but I just did a post on China and Google and I'm scared of what you'd think...hmm...Repressive is the only word that comes to mind. I'm interested in how you'll fare and what you'll find.
ReplyDeleteI was researching something else a couple weeks ago and noticed at least as late as 1905 in Connecticut that foreigners (non U.S. citizens) needed the Board of Selectman's (town council) approval to establish residency in a town.
ReplyDeleteConnecticut, actually all of New England, into the early 20th century was highly concerned about what town someone was a resident of.
It dated back to the very founding of the colonies since the town that you were a resident of was responsible for your welfare.
Simply moving didn't change your residency, since otherwise towns would just ship their poor off to other towns.
There was a complex set of rules for determining residency, and then whether a person had any other relatives who could care for the indigent before they became a ward of the town.
If a town could prove a poor person was legally a resident of another town they could either physically remove the person to there, or bill the other community for the cost of care.
When I say this goes back a long way, when my county was established in 1726 (50 years before the Revolution less you think that's a typo) the legislature ordered that the very first thing the county court was to decide was the matter of a certain idiot who no one could agree what Town was financially responsible for the care of.
This concern over residency in general, and care of the poor in particular, also carried into many of the early "women's rights" issues in New England which where aimed at keeping a widow from becoming destitute in a patriarchal society by ensuring certain minimum inheritances, and that the other heirs maintained certain obligations to make sure the widow didn't end up on the dole.