(CRI)
Updated: 2008-03-06 10:43

"And preschool education expense hasn't been included," said Zhang. Take a kindergarten near Zhang's home for an example, each year, they charge a migrant student over 30,000 RMB as sponsor fee.

The extra charge adds huge burden to the migrant families. But it's not the worst. After graduating from a high school, the child has to return to the place where his "hukou" was registered to take part in the college entrance exam, which is the rule.

There is only one way to help Zhang Yong solve all the problems - buying his son a Beijing hukou. Zhang said that he really thought this over before. The price is 200 thousand RMB, which is a bit less than the heavy schooling fees he has to pay in the next 12 years.

But Zhang held himself back from doing this.

In recent years, the government is working on various methods to lift limitations on household registration. Although hukou reforms differ from region to region, who can predict what will happen in the next ten years, Zhang Yong asked himself.

There is another reason why Zhang abandoned his idea of buying a hukou. He heard about China's household registration law.

One day, a friend told Zhang Yong that he could get his son a Beijing hukou according to the law, which says that if the family has a fixed residence in the city, their newborn baby is qualified for registration in Beijing.

"This is impossible!" Zhang Yong thought. The friend suggested him to visit a man named Cheng Hai, who lives in the same community with Zhang.

Let's protect our rights with "legal weapons"

Cheng Hai is a lawyer from Anhui Province. In 2007, Cheng filed a lawsuit against the public security stations in Beijing and Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui, in order to transfer his residential record to Beijing.

Cheng Hai came to Beijing in 2003. From then on, every year, he needs to go to the local public security station in Beijing to apply for a temporary residence certificate. Things didn't turn any better even after Cheng bought his own apartment in Beijing.

Cheng then began to study related laws hoping to solve this problem. Zhang Yong's case gave Cheng another chance to challenge the household registration system.

Cheng Hai told Zhang Yong that according to a law put into effect in 1958, which is China's only law ruling the Chinese citizens' residential activities, Zhang Yong can register his newborn son's hukou at the city where they have a fixed residence. Since Zhang has bought an apartment in Beijing, he can give his son a Beijing hukou according to the law.

Then, Zhang Yong started his work to apply for the residential certificate for his son at the police station in Changping district. Just as he thought, the application was rejected.

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