China's Hukou system has been put on the spotlight after a Chinese woman's Beijing household registration was nullified by authorities after she admitted using falsified documents to secure it.

After 11 years, the Public Security Bureau of the capital's Dongcheng district nullified the Beijing hukou of Cheng Yuanyuan after confessing that she used the university certificate of another person to get approval for her hukou in 2015.

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Liu Hongli, the real owner of the university certificate used by Cheng, only learned that her hukou was void when she went to the bank in September of last year to apply for loan, which raised questions regarding China's Hukou System.

Liu, a teacher residing in Xiangcheng, Henan province, was surprised when she was informed that her hukou had been transferred to Beijing.

What is even more surprising is that Cheng and Liu don't know each other. However, Liu recalled that a colleague had borrowed her university certificate, which the latter would use for a job application.

It turns out that Liu's colleague was a relative of Cheng.

Beijing police have confirmed that Cheng had indeed used Liu's personal information to enable her to obtain her Beijing household registration.

There is now an ongoing investigation on the case, while the Xiangcheng police has already issued Liu a new hukou and assured her that her complaint will be addressed soon.  

Under China's Hukou System, all Chinese nationals are issued a household registration certificate or hukou, which is also called a residence registration account.

The document determines the specific education and other social welfare services that a person can avail of in the locality where his or her hukou is registered.

However, a person cannot obtain certain social welfare benefits which are outside the registered locality.

For people who live and work in Beijing without a local hukou, their children can still attend public schools providing they pay a fee.

The children will not also be qualified to take the college entrance examinations in Beijing.

As mandated by China's Hukou System, they must return to the place where their hukou was registered in order to take the test, wherein they may be required to obtain a higher score based on a different set of criteria. 

Tagschina, Beijing, Hukou System