The key to differentiated household registration lies in the attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities

A few days ago, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Advancing the Reform of the Household Registration System" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which is a programmatic document guiding the reform of the household registration system for the current period and the period ahead. The "Opinions" clearly propose taking the path of differentiated household registration, fully lifting restrictions on household registration in administrative towns and small cities, orderly lifting restrictions on household registration in medium-sized cities, reasonably determining the conditions for household registration in large cities, and strictly controlling the population size of megacities. In my view, to implement a differentiated household registration policy, one of the primary prerequisites is to increase the attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities. Only in this way can a large number of rural migrant workers be attracted to settle in small and medium-sized cities.

Judging from the current situation, the household registration attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities in China is not all that strong. On the one hand, this is because the development of small and medium-sized cities has not yet reached the standards everyone hopes for; at the same time, it is also because the state has for many consecutive years attached importance to and invested in agriculture, rural areas and farmers, which has raised the "gold content" of agricultural household registration. For example, farmers' pension and medical insurance are gradually being aligned with those in cities, plus farmers' own contracted farmland, the residential land they use, and their right to share in collective income distribution. Under such circumstances, to attract rural migrant workers to settle in small and medium-sized cities, those cities need to be sufficiently attractive. On the other hand, although a large number of migrant workers are currently concentrated in megacities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, about 50% of migrant workers still live and work in small and medium-sized cities. Thus, whether it is solving the household registration problems of these migrant workers nearby or further guiding migrant workers from other cities to come and settle, the attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities likewise needs to be enhanced.

Good transportation is the basic condition for enhancing the attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities. There are gaps in many respects between China's large cities and small cities. Among these, transportation conditions are both an important gap and the foundation for resolving other gaps. This is because only when transportation conditions improve can industries be attracted to cluster there. At the same time, having good transportation conditions will also mean that settled migrant workers will not face overly long and inconvenient journeys in the future when visiting relatives in their "old homes" from their new places of household registration or when going out to handle affairs. According to the requirements of the national new urbanization plan, by 2020, the ordinary railway network should cover cities with a population of more than 200,000, the rapid railway network should basically cover cities with a population of more than 500,000, ordinary national highways should basically cover county seats, and national expressways should basically cover cities with a population of more than 200,000. The population size of China's small and medium-sized cities is below 1 million, and the standards designed in the urbanization plan should be able to include small and medium-sized cities within their scope.

A well-established industrial foundation is the cornerstone of survival for attracting rural migrant workers to settle. Years of practice have proven that for migrant workers who go to cities to work or do business, stable employment is the foundation for their gradual integration into cities. It is necessary to vigorously develop the tertiary industry, small and medium-sized enterprises, and labor-intensive industries, which have a large capacity for employing migrant workers. It is necessary to encourage and guide industrial projects to be located in small and medium-sized cities with strong resource and environmental carrying capacity and great development potential, and to develop distinctive industries. The central government has proposed that "it is necessary to enhance the industrial undertaking capacity of small and medium-sized cities, and in particular strive to increase the proportion of the service sector." In terms of industrial distribution, at present the employment of China's migrant workers is mainly concentrated in manufacturing, construction and services, among which the proportion of services has shown a trend of gradual increase in recent years. Taking domestic services as an example, the number of people employed in China's domestic service industry has now reached 20 million. Based on 15% of households having demand, this represents a capacity of 30 million, leaving room for development of 10 million. Internationally, however, it is usually 30% of households that have demand for service industries. If calculated on this basis, China's domestic service industry still has considerable room for growth in the future.

Enhancing the attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities also requires vigorously strengthening the construction of municipal infrastructure and public service facilities in small and medium-sized cities. It is necessary to strengthen the allocation of municipal infrastructure in small and medium-sized cities, such as public water supply, sewage treatment, garbage treatment, and gas supply, and also to strengthen the allocation of public resources such as education and medical care in small and medium-sized cities. These resources should be tilted toward small and medium-sized cities and county seats. It is necessary to guide higher vocational education institutions to locate in small and medium-sized cities and for high-quality education and medical institutions to set up branch institutions in small and medium-sized cities. At the same time, it is also necessary to cultivate the cultural attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities, gradually build relatively complete cultural consumption infrastructure, support the construction of museums and libraries, build concert halls and theaters, encourage major cinema chains to establish outlets in small and medium-sized cities, and expand the total number of cinemas and screens, so that small and medium-sized cities can gradually become livable on the basis of being suitable for work.

As of the end of June this year, the number of migrant workers working away from home in China had reached 174 million. As of 2010, China had 518 small and medium-sized cities (with a population below 1 million), while in the same period there were 140 large cities and megacities. These 518 small and medium-sized cities are the main areas for rural migrant workers to settle in the coming period. Reform of the household registration system is a very complex and enormous project, and there is much supporting work that needs to be done. Enhancing the attractiveness of small and medium-sized cities is also one of the key points. Only when small and medium-sized cities have sufficient attractiveness, comfort and happiness will rural migrant workers possibly choose voluntarily to settle there, and only then can a rational layout of large, medium and small cities and small towns be achieved, population distribution be reasonably guided, and the gradual settlement goal of employment-driven and livable settlement for rural migrant workers be realized.