Since the release of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2011, a reform of China's household registration system – the so-called hukou reform - is mentioned as a possible tool to promote labour mobility, boost incomes, rebalance the growth model towards consumption and create a stable urban society....

China's economy is at a cross roads. The factors that have driven its economic transformation over the last decades are waning and the country faces increasingly urgent environmental and social pressures. To avoid falling into the 'middle-income' trap, China's leaders are attempting to engineer...