While nine million Chinese sat for the college placement exams on June 7 that would, in many cases, make or break their futures, some were denied the chance to even try.
For Zhan Haite, a young woman living in Shanghai, her public education was cut short four years ago, when she was barred from attending high school because of China’s “hukou” or household registry policies.
It’s a situation all too commonly seen in China: Zhan’s family lived, worked, and paid taxes in Shanghai, but did not have the proper “hukou,” or household registry, needed to grant them access to many public services. She and her parents came from Jiangxi Province, which they left 11 years ago, as described on blog posts and news reports.
