[akfanta]

Great answer but I think you are overselling the importance of HuKou. For one, HuKou certainly doesn't get you "the highest paid jobs in both the public and private sector". Your degree/profile/experience are the deciding factors in big cities like Beijing/Shanghai. That along with many other factors are the reason why tens of millions of "Waidiren" chose to live those two cities. As for "often a large network of friends and family members in local government", I think you are mistaken HuKou with Guanxi (network). Having a Hukou doesn't grant you the pass to people in local government. You still need to know the right people.

What HuKou means to the general public is more about access to local education system and better healthcare. Most of the time it really doesn't mean much when you try to get a job, especially in the private companies.

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