[janalsncm]

Houkou does not prevent a Chinese citizen from leaving a town. People move around all the time. Houkou is about registering to receive public services in the new city within China.

In any case Houkou doesn’t prevent a person from leaving the country. A passport does, but this is the same in all countries.

> You see, it was always illegal to go outside of the country without Xi's approval and those approvals have mostly stopped coming.

There are hundreds of millions of trips out of China every year. A good number of them to the US for work. That fact is hard to square with what you’re saying.

[spwa4]

That would be "A distinction without a difference" ... a thing bureaucracies are positively excellent at.

There's an old Soviet joke: it's allowed! It's just that you haven't submitted your request, in triplicate, in our office in Siberia, open from 24:00 to 24:01 on Februari 30th every year! But it's allowed, with the proper permission. Just go get it!

[triceratops]

Except that there is a difference