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Chongqing speeds up urbanization

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In the past five months since Chongqing first began to enact its household registration reform, 1.45 million farmers have given up their rural hukous for urban residencies that give them access to employment opportunities, medical care and education enjoyed by city dwellers.

Chen Gang, the first farmer to apply for an urban hukou when Chongqing began its household registration reform, presents his residence book outside a police station in Chongqing on Aug. 1, 2010.

More and more farmers have chosen to register as urban residents since Aug. 15. Since mid-November, some 15,000 farmers a day have been applying for new hukous, with the number reaching as high as 20,000 a day.

Farmers will now also be able to receive pension and housing opportunities once reserved for urban residents.

Under Chongqing's hukou reform, farmers will be able to choose whether to keep their contracted land – and continue receiving government subsidies for it – or exchange their land for compensation. The farmers may choose to regain their rural hukous after three years.