I am curious about the marriage law change. Is it normal for legislation to be given to the public for comments? This is not something I expect in an authoritarian state.
It's very normal for them to post about potential upcoming changes on the internet to test the waters, see how much backlash there is and manage that backlash before the law is actually put into effect. It's basically just another aspect of the propaganda engine. You talk about upcoming changes first and you get a chance to set the narrative, that sort of thing.
In my knowledge, though, the government almost never backs down even if there is a lot of backlash. I think the only time they've done it that I can remember was not going forward with all the proposed restrictions on the gaming industry. That was because of the huge impact to gaming stocks though. So for backlash to mean anything, it has to start affecting things in real life first.
I don't understand what the hukou thing changes. Is it just that it makes the paperwork easier, or is there some actual functional change to who can get married?
So, this is a bit hard to understand, but basically, you should think of a national ID as the equivalent to a driver's license, and the hukou is your social security card.
The National ID is the ID you use for everything, what you carry in your wallet when you're out and about. And these days, just about every major site in China requires you associate your account with a national ID, so they know who you are if you start talking shit about the CCP.
Whereas you don't really need to present your hukou much except for getting married and having a kid, and you only ever show it at a government office.
So, a national ID is relatively much easier to do identity theft on. There are people with phone numbers they never registered for, for example, because scammers will steal information about their National ID off of the internet and use it for nefarious purposes. So a lot of people are worried that this new change will allow scammers to "marry" people who don't know them at all and take out a lot of loans, and leave some random person with half the debt.
Also, a good criticism I've seen is that currently, a lot of abducted, chained women aren't actually officially, legally married to their abductors. And this makes rescue, investigation, and prosecution work a lot easier. And this is because you need a valid hukou to get married, and most people don't carry that around with them everywhere. But if all you need is a National ID, then you could officially end up married to your abductor just because he also has your wallet. And that makes police work a lot more difficult. For example, if you get rescued and you try to get a divorce, you enter the divorce cooldown period. And during this cooldown period, *any party* can withdraw the divorce request. So you could apply for a divorce, and he could withdraw the request the next day, and you'll never be free.
I am curious about the marriage law change. Is it normal for legislation to be given to the public for comments? This is not something I expect in an authoritarian state.
It's very normal for them to post about potential upcoming changes on the internet to test the waters, see how much backlash there is and manage that backlash before the law is actually put into effect. It's basically just another aspect of the propaganda engine. You talk about upcoming changes first and you get a chance to set the narrative, that sort of thing.
In my knowledge, though, the government almost never backs down even if there is a lot of backlash. I think the only time they've done it that I can remember was not going forward with all the proposed restrictions on the gaming industry. That was because of the huge impact to gaming stocks though. So for backlash to mean anything, it has to start affecting things in real life first.
I don't understand what the hukou thing changes. Is it just that it makes the paperwork easier, or is there some actual functional change to who can get married?
So, this is a bit hard to understand, but basically, you should think of a national ID as the equivalent to a driver's license, and the hukou is your social security card.
The National ID is the ID you use for everything, what you carry in your wallet when you're out and about. And these days, just about every major site in China requires you associate your account with a national ID, so they know who you are if you start talking shit about the CCP.
Whereas you don't really need to present your hukou much except for getting married and having a kid, and you only ever show it at a government office.
So, a national ID is relatively much easier to do identity theft on. There are people with phone numbers they never registered for, for example, because scammers will steal information about their National ID off of the internet and use it for nefarious purposes. So a lot of people are worried that this new change will allow scammers to "marry" people who don't know them at all and take out a lot of loans, and leave some random person with half the debt.
Also, a good criticism I've seen is that currently, a lot of abducted, chained women aren't actually officially, legally married to their abductors. And this makes rescue, investigation, and prosecution work a lot easier. And this is because you need a valid hukou to get married, and most people don't carry that around with them everywhere. But if all you need is a National ID, then you could officially end up married to your abductor just because he also has your wallet. And that makes police work a lot more difficult. For example, if you get rescued and you try to get a divorce, you enter the divorce cooldown period. And during this cooldown period, *any party* can withdraw the divorce request. So you could apply for a divorce, and he could withdraw the request the next day, and you'll never be free.