By 2010, 260 million citizens were living outside of their permanent hukou location, a major challenge to the constrictive Mao-era system of migration and settlement planning. Jason Young shows how these new forces have been received by the state and documents the process of change and the importance of China's hukou system.

1. Introduction 2. Markets, Migrants and Institutional Change 3. The Hukou System 4. Institutional Change at the National Level 5. Institutional Change in Beijing, Shenzen and Chongqing 6. Hukou Reform for the New Century 7. Conclusion

Jason Young is Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Research Associate at the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre. He researches Chinese politico-economic development, including land, hukou and agricultural reform, the international relations of East Asia and New Zealand-China trade and investment.