China – Religion and Hukou – National Hukou Database

Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: CHN33791 Country: China Date: 18 September 2008

Keywords: China – Religion and Hukou – National Hukou database

This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein.

Questions

1. How is religion recorded on a hukou? In what circumstances would a hukou record one’s religion as a Christian (ie is it likely to be through involvement in a registered church or following an arrest for involvement with an unregistered church)?

RESPONSE

Available information indicates that religion is recorded on an individual’s hukou (household registration). However, no other information was found in the sources consulted regarding the recording of religious affiliation within an individual’s household registration. No information was found in the sources regarding unregistered, underground or illegal Christians and household registration. Reports indicate that while in detention an individual’s hukou may be cancelled but that upon release their new re-registered hukou will not contain information regarding their criminal record or period of detention. Sources indicate that illegal activity may, however, be recorded within an electronic police database. A 2004 report states that detailed information is kept within a national computerised hukou system on individuals targeted by the government (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2005, China: Reforms of the Household Registration System (Hukou) (1998-2004), February, Section 2 & 7.1 – Attachment 1; ‘Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Residence Registration’ 2001, Chinese Law and Government, Vol. 34, No. 3, p.53, Article 12, p.55 – Attachment 2; Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2008, CHN102813.E: Whether an individual who has been sent to prison would have his or her hukou automatically cancelled; procedures to incarcerate and release a convict, including forfeiture of documentation, return of documentation and any demarcations on documentation noting incarceration, 20 May http://www.irb- cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451906 – Accessed 16 September 2008 – Attachment 3; Wang, F.L. 2004 ‘Reformed Migration Control and New Targeted People: China’s Hukou System in the 2000’s’, The China Quarterly, vol.177, pp 155 – 132 – Attachment 4).

A 2005 Issue Paper by the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) provides detailed information on the Chinese household registration system. The issue paper states that religion is listed within an individual’s hukou registration. The following are extracts from the report relating to religion:

Under the HRS [Household Registration System], every Chinese household is issued one hukou booklet containing the names of every family member, and each individual must be registered at birth with the local hukou authorities (Wang Jan. 2005, 23; Wu and Treiman Oct. 2002, 6; Rogerson and Wu Nov. 2002; Anh Sept. 2003, 29). According to Fei-Ling Wang, “[o]ne citizen can have only one permanent hukou, at only one hukou zone” (Jan. 2005, 65). Each town and city issues its own hukou, which entitles only its registered residents to complete access to the social benefits associated with that particular hukou (Wu and Treiman Oct. 2002, 5; Young 2002, 6; Anh Sept. 2003, 29; EIU 23 Aug. 2004). A person’s hukou registration record usually includes residential address, religion and employment information (Rogerson and Wu Nov. 2002; HRIC 6 Nov. 2002, 9), as well as birth, death and migration details (ibid.). In some areas, “nationality, ‘native place’, educational level, class status … and military record [are] also recorded” (ibid.).

…The third page of the hukou booklet is the “Principal Holder Page” and contains the following items: • Name • Householder or relationship with householder • Former Name • Sex • Place of Birth • Ethnic Group • Place of Origin • Date of Birth • Other address in the city • Religion • Identity card number • Height • Blood Type • Education Level • Marital Status • Work Place • Position • When and from where moved in to this city • When and from where moved in to this address • Handling person’s signature/seal • Registration Date (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2005, China: Reforms of the Household Registration System (Hukou) (1998-2004), February, Section 2 & 7.1 – Attachment 1).

The IRB report provides the following information on changes to an individual’s hukou that must be reported. Religion is not listed as a change that must be registered with the hukou police:

In a report received on 18 February 2005, the Canadian Consulate General in Hong Kong described the hukou booklet as follows: The first page of the hukou booklet contains "Noted Items" stating the following: 1. [The] Household Register (Hukou) is an identification document which indicate[s] the citizen's identity and the relationship between family members. It is used by the registration authority for household inquiries. The household holder or members of the household have to present this register to the registration authority for investigation and verification. 2. [The] Household holder has to keep the register in proper condition and not to alter, transfer or borrow the register privately and report immediately to the registration authority when the household register is lost. 3. [The] Household Register belongs to the registration issuing authority, any other units or individual are not allow[ed] to add anything onto the register. 4. [The] Household holder has to report to the registration authority if there is any change in the number of household members or registered items 5. If the whole household move[s] out of the registered district, [it] should report for cancellation of the household.

…7.2.7 Changes that must be reported to the hukou police

Although the hukou police often keep track of a person's employment information, there is no legal requirement to update the job status of a resident (ibid.). Changes which require a new registration, on the other hand, such as marriage, change in family status and relocation, must be reported to the hukou authorities (ibid.) (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2005, China: Reforms of the Household Registration System (Hukou) (1998-2004), February, Section 7.1 & 7.2.7 – Attachment 1).

According to the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Residence Registration upon detention an individual’s hukou is cancelled. The regulations state that:

In the case of arrested criminals, the arresting organ, while notifying the family members of the criminals, shall at the same time notify the residence registration organ at the criminal’s place of permanent residence to cancel the arrested criminal’s residence registration (‘Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Residence Registration’ 2001, Chinese Law and Government, Vol. 34, No. 3, p.53, Article 12, p.55 – Attachment 2).

A 2008 report from the IRB also reports on the cancellation of the hukou of detainees. Advice cited by the IRB from the Laogai Research Foundation, however, reports that while the hukou should be cancelled this does not always occur in all locations and may not occur if the individual is detained for a short period of time: China’s hukou system, or household registration system, requires that all Chinese citizens be registered with the hukou authorities (Wang 2005a, 65; ibid. 2005b, 88). According to a 3 December 2007 article by China Radio International (CRI), a China-based radio station that is owned and operated by the state (CRI n.d.), the hukou authorities may cancel an individual’s hukou registration “only in the case of death, missing [person], immigration, army recruitment or criminal detention” (ibid. 3 Dec. 2007).

Several other sources consulted by the Research Directorate similarly indicate that an individual who has been sent to prison may have his or her hukou cancelled (Research Fellow 26 Apr. 2008; LRF 16 Apr. 2008; Wang 2005a, 66). In 26 April 2008 correspondence, a research fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia who is a specialist in the area of criminal justice, policing and punishment in China indicated that a convict’s hukou is cancelled upon his or her first day of arrival to the prison. The Research Fellow explained that while in prison, convicts have a collective danwei (work unit) hukou, in the same way that soldiers in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) also have a danwei hukou instead of an individual one (Research Fellow 26 Apr. 2008).

In a 16 April 2008 telephone interview, the Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation (LRF), a Washington, DC-based organization that documents and reports on the Chinese Laogai (prison labour camps) and other human rights abuses in China (LRF 14 Apr. 2004), similarly indicated that by law an individual’s hukou should be cancelled immediately upon his or her incarceration (ibid. 16 Apr. 2008). However, he noted that policies and procedures differ by location in China, including whether an individual lives in a big city, small city, rural village, etc. (ibid.). He said that in general, if an individual’s imprisonment is long term, his or her hukou may be cancelled; however, if the imprisonment is only for a short term, it may not be cancelled (ibid.). He also indicated that in certain instances, individuals may be able to bribe the hukou police not to cancel their hukou (ibid.) (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2008, CHN102813.E: Whether an individual who has been sent to prison would have his or her hukou automatically cancelled; procedures to incarcerate and release a convict, including forfeiture of documentation, return of documentation and any demarcations on documentation noting incarceration, 20 May http://www.irb- cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451906 – Accessed 16 September 2008 – Attachment 3).

The IRB report continues on to state that upon release a detainee must re-register their hukou with their local authorities. According to the information provided by the IRB no note is made within the ex-detainee’s new hukou regarding their criminal record or detention. However, the report does state that the details of a person’s detention will be recorded within a police database:

Concerning procedures for the release of a prisoner and the re-registration process for a hukou, the Research Fellow stated the following:

When a prisoner is released, in the overwhelming number of cases, the individual re-registers his/her hukou at their original hukou location. In the event that there are no relatives in the area of his/her original hukou, or for other reasons that make it an unsuitable place to reside in (e.g if the prisoner committed a heinous sex crime and would not feel safe in the community or employable) the individual can be reregistered in an area in close proximity to the prison but only if the prison is willing to offer the individual paid employment in the prison. This is only the case if the individual wishes to stay in the area, and they cannot be forced to stay.

Before 1985, it was common, upon release, for an ex-prisoner to reside in an area close to the prison, but this is no longer a common practice. Nowadays, the ex-prisoner returns to his/her original place of residence to be reregistered and the police in this locality and authorities cannot refuse to give the individual a permit due to ‘lack of employment opportunities’ or other reasons.

... After leaving prison, the prison will issue the individual a ‘release certificate’ (shifangzheng) and enough money for a bus or train ticket home. The individual must return to his/her original area of residence to re-register a hukou within 30 days of release and must present the release form to the police. The release form will be kept at the local police station along with the document recording the canceling of his/her original hukou.

With his/her new identity card and hukou, there is no indication whatsoever that the individual is an ex-prisoner or that he/she has a criminal record. However, the local police keep this information in the dossier of the individual at the local police station and the person’s name is recorded on a police database as having a criminal record. This situation described above complies with the hukou law and the hukou implementing regulations of the Ministry of Public Security. (26 Apr. 2008)

The Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation likewise indicated that once an individual is released from prison, he or she may re-register for a hukou and that there are no demarcations on the hukou noting whether he or she has been incarcerated (16 Apr. 2008) (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2008, CHN102813.E: Whether an individual who has been sent to prison would have his or her hukou automatically cancelled; procedures to incarcerate and release a convict, including forfeiture of documentation, return of documentation and any demarcations on documentation noting incarceration, 20 May http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451906 – Accessed 16 September 2008 – Attachment 3).

A 2004 article by Dr Fei-Ling Wang, Professor at The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta reports that one of the functions of the hukou system is the monitoring and management of individuals targeted by the government. According to the report the government’s list of targeted people includes people suspected of “using religion for illegal or criminal activities” (Appendix 2, p.131) Wang describes the hukou system as a national electronic database linked to police stations into which detailed information is entered about targeted individuals. Wang does not however, state that an individual’s personal hukou booklet would be updated with this information. The report provides the following information on the hukou and ‘targeted people’:

In the 2000s, the official role of the PRC hukou system remains unchanged. Internally, it is designed to perform one common governance duty (to collect and manage the information of citizens’ personal identification, kinship and legal residence) and two “unique missions”: to control internal migration through managing temporary residents/visitors; and to have a tiered management of zhongdian renkou (targeted people) in the population (p.117).

…To manage the massive files of the hukou system, the MPS started to establish an electronic database in 1986 and received special funding for national computerization of the system in 1992. By 2002 almost all (more than 30 thousand) police stations had computerized their hukou management. Some 1,180 cities and counties joined regional computer networks for file-sharing of the hukou records of a total of 1.07 billion people (about 83 per cent of the total population), and 250 cities joined one single national computer network to allow for instantaneous verification of hukou information covering 650 million people (about half the total population). In 2002, the MPS further required all hotels with at least 50 beds to have computer links to transmit the photos of all guests instantaneously to the local police station (pp.117-118).

…The PRC police are the administrators of the hukou system and each police station (paichusuo) has full-time hukou officers in charge of a hukou zone. For every 500–700 households in a police precinct (or as many as 2,000 in some areas), there is one nationally mandated full-time field hukou police officer who is responsible for getting to know every resident in the households. The field officer often works as a plain-clothes but well-known detective in the neighbourhood to collect, verify and update hukou information, in the name of managing the system and safeguarding political order, social stability and public security.

In the early 2000s, China has a total of over 300 thousand hukou police field officers. They are to collect and update information in eight categories on each resident in the precinct: basic information (the information on the hukou registration form); current behaviour including political activities; family and personal financial status and life style; personal friends and relations (including love relations); physical features including body size and body shape; usage of accent and slang; personal character and hobbies; and daily associations and other “consequential” past activities.

In addition to the state-paid police officers who are all urban hukou holders (even when they work in the rural areas), each police station usually has a large number of assistants. The police assistants are not state employees and are hired by police stations from the local communities, and hence can be rural hukou holders. They are paid by the station and the local (usually the township or district) government.

The hukou police rely heavily on the “public security activists” such as the street or residential committee members and the so-called “eyes and ears of public security” (zhi’an ermu), secret informants cultivated and used by the police to collect, verify and update information on every resident in the neighbourhood. According to official regulations, each urban hukou zone usually has one to several street or residential committees. Each committee typically has 100 to 600 households and the households are organized into residential groups of 15 to 40 households each.

The unfeasibility of monitoring everyone, even with massive mobilization of the residents, prompted the police to focus its resources on the most threatening and most undesirable people, the so-called targeted people (zhongdian renkou), from the embryonic days of the PRC hukou system in 1949. Modelled after the Qing dynasty’s hukou practice of “other” or “special” records (lingce), the police have a tiered or layered (fencengci) population management, allowing the state to segment and control the targeted people and hence achieve an effective and efficient control of the population, “to protect good people and restrict bad people.” The reform era has made comprehensive monitoring of the people even less practical as there has been an impressive advance of the market economy and opening to the world, political decentralization and social relaxation, increased population mobility, deep and extensive political cynicism among the citizens, and the widespread corruption of the PRC officials including the police. Hence an even higher need for the targeted people scheme.

The MPS periodically and secretly informs the hukou police nationwide on who should be classified as targeted people and requires the police to monitor them in a more-or- less uniform way. For example, in a major city like Beijing, the hukou police are now required to know only two of the eight categories of information about the general population (basic information and current behaviour). But for the targeted people, they are expected to compile and update information in all eight categories plus meeting some ad hoc information requests. Furthermore, the police are instructed to monitor the targeted people openly and secretly as closely as possible, review their cases and “educate” them as necessary, and detain them at the earliest warning signs. Often, especially during periodical national or regional yanda (strike hard against crime) or saohei (sweeping organized crime) campaigns, the targeted people, together with undocumented “floating” people, are pre-emptively detained and interrogated without evidence of criminal activities.

Targeted people management appears to be highly useful. In one city, nearly 40 per cent of criminal cases were reported to be solved based on the information provided by the targeted people management work. The even more secretive police work of “political investigation” and anti-espionage operations by the MPS and the Ministry of State Security, also appear frequently to utilize the assistance of targeted people management (pp. 124- 126) (Wang, F.L. 2004 ‘Reformed Migration Control and New Targeted People: China’s Hukou System in the 2000’s’, The China Quarterly, vol.177, pp 117-118 & 124-126- Attachment 4).

Additional information

On 19 September 2008 a request for information on specific aspects of Chinese hukou documentation was sent to Dr Fei-Ling Wang, Professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology (Research & Information Services 2008, Email to Fei-Ling Wang ‘Request for assistance from Refugee Review Tribunal, Sydney Australia (RRT ref: CHN33811)’, 19 September - Attachment 5).

Dr Wang responded on 26 September 2008. The following information is an extract of his response which provides advice on the recording of religion within an individual’s hukou booklet:

1. When is the religion of an individual recorded in their hukou booklet? At birth, when they join an officially recognised religion, or at some other point?

Usually at birth. When some [sic] moves, or updates his/her hukou record as the result of family expansion/reduction/split, the information may be revised. But unlikely at the time of joining a religious organization.

2. If government authorities became aware of an individual’s association with an unregistered church, would this lead to their religious affiliation being recorded on their hukou booklet?

Usually not. But if the person is already on list of the “targeted” i.e. watched people, then the police may update the police-kept hukou record/file; yet the hukou booklet may still remain unchanged.

3. Is the religious affiliation recorded on an individual’s hukou booklet based on information provided by the individual or does it come from any other sources including government officials?

Usually yes, as provided by the individual (or the head of the household). Updating information from other sources may be kept in the police files, though (Wang, F.L. 2008, Email to RRT Research & Information ‘Re: Request for assistance from Refugee Review Tribunal, Sydney Australia (RRT ref: CHN33811)’, 26 September - Attachment 6).

On 22 September 2008 a request for information regarding the recording of religious information within an individual’s hukou booklet was also sent to Dr Sue Trevaskes, Deputy Director and Research Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University. No reply has been received at this time. Any response from Dr Trevaskes will be passed on to the Member (Research & Information Services 2008, Email to Sue Trevaskes ‘Request for assistance from Refugee Review Tribunal, Sydney Australia (RRT ref: CHN33811)’, 22 September - Attachment 7).

List of Sources Consulted

Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports Immigration & Refugee Board of Canada http://www.irb.gc.ca/ UK Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk US Department of State http://www.state.gov/ US Department of State website http://www.state.gov United Nations (UN) UNHCR http://www.unhchr.ch/ Non-Government Organisations Amnesty International website http://www.amnesty.org/ Freedom House http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=1 Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/ International News & Politics BBC News website http://news.bbc.co.uk/ Region Specific Links Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) http://www.aidtochurch.org/ Amity News Service http://www.amitynewsservice.org/index.php AsiaNews.It http://www.asianews.it/ Cardinal Kung Foundation http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/ China Aid Association http://www.chinaaid.org/english_site/index.php Christian Solidarity Worldwide http://www.csw.org.uk/ Forum 18 http://www.forum18.org/Analyses.php?region=3 Holy Spirit Study Centre, Hong Kong http://www.hsstudyc.org.hk/ MonitorChina.Org http://www.monitorchina.org/chinese_site/index.php Worthy News – Christian News Service http://worthynews.com/ Zenit News Agency http://www.zenit.org/english/ Search Engines Google search engine http://www.google.com.au/ University Sites University of New South Wales library http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/

Databases:

FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIAC Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Research & Information database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) RRT Library Catalogue List of Attachments

1. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2005, China: Reforms of the Household Registration System (Hukou) (1998-2004), February.

2. ‘Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Residence Registration’ 2001, Chinese Law and Government, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp.52-57.

3. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2008, CHN102813.E: Whether an individual who has been sent to prison would have his or her hukou automatically cancelled; procedures to incarcerate and release a convict, including forfeiture of documentation, return of documentation and any demarcations on documentation noting incarceration, 20 May http://www.irb- cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451906 – Accessed 16 September 2008.

4. Wang, F.L. 2004 ‘Reformed Migration Control and New Targeted People: China’s Hukou System in the 2000’s’, The China Quarterly, vol.177, pp 155 – 132.

5. Research & Information Services 2008, Email to Fei-Ling Wang ‘Request for assistance from Refugee Review Tribunal, Sydney Australia (RRT ref: CHN33811)’, 19 September.

6. Wang, F.L. 2008, Email to RRT Research & Information ‘Re: Request for assistance from Refugee Review Tribunal, Sydney Australia (RRT ref: CHN33811)’, 26 September.

7. Research & Information Services 2008, Email to Sue Trevaskes ‘Request for assistance from Refugee Review Tribunal, Sydney Australia (RRT ref: CHN33811)’, 22 September.