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Class Label System
A system introduced under Mao that formally classified every Chinese family according to its pre-1949 economic and social status, such as landlord, rich peasant, or poor peasant, determining access to education, employment, and political rights, often for generations.
Hukou System
China's household registration system, introduced in 1958, which ties citizens' access to public services (schools, hospitals, welfare benefits) to their registered place of birth. Citizens registered as rural residents who migrate to cities receive only limited access to urban public services, creating a two-tier system. As of 2020, an estimated 290 million "floating population" migrants lived in cities without full urban hukou status, unable to access healthcare, education, or social security benefits on equal terms with registered urban residents.