十三五户口改革加速

Other proposals for China's 13th Five-Year Plan include deepening reform of the household registration system, known as the "hukou" system in China. The reforms would allow migrant workers with stable work and skills to settle in cities with their families, and enjoy the same rights as people currently registered as city dwellers. All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China will issue plans for the reform of the hukou system before the end of this year. Xiangyang, in central China’s Hubei province, has already started.

This is Xiangyang, the second biggest city in central China’s Hubei province. Like many other Chinese cities this size, it has undergone tremendous development in the past few years. Recently it announced a new residential permit system giving all urban and rural residents the same access to social welfare and public services.

Migrant workers in particular have far fewer barriers to staying in the city.

"We’ve been reforming our hukou system for years. This time, almost 70% of people who benefit from the new system are migrant workers. It’s our most thorough reform ever," Vice mayor of Xiangyang city Wang Zhaomin said.

That's good news for Chen Li, a farmer in nearby Wengang Village. She's worked in Xiangyang for years. She finally bought an apartment here and can now apply for a permanent residency permit in Xiangyang. But she's still struggling.

"I was afraid I'd lose my land in my village if I got a hukou in Xiangyang," Chen Li from Wengang village said.

Many migrant workers share her concerns.

"A third of the people from our village have bought apartments in Xiangyang. They can apply for a hukou in the city and enjoy the same benefits. But no one did that," Zhao Zongxin from Wengang village said.

"They just have one concern, that is losing their land," Zhang Huadong from Wengang village said.

Actually they have nothing to worry about. Under the new system, migrant workers who register to live in the city will keep their land in their village.

The local government will allocate an average of 150,000 yuan for every new resident in Xiangyang to cover their basic benefits.

"This is a protection for the migrant workers. If they lose their job in the city, they can go back to their village and do farm work," Wang said.

In 2013, about 36 percent of China's population was living in urban areas.

That's expected to reach 45 percent by 2020. More than 16 million people have changed their registered rural address to an urban address each year.

China’s decades-long hukou or household registration system is used to divide rural and urban residence permits. But government plans to continue the process of urbanization make reform of the registration system inevitable. Many believe that the 13th five-year plan will include big changes to the hukou system.