THE PUBLICATION OF A STATE COUNCIL document on reform of China's household registration system, or hukou, on Wednesday marks the beginning of a phase, in which the long discussed vision of a fairer system will gradually materialize.

In this vision, nominally there will be no rural hukou and urban hukou, and both rural and urban dwellers will be registered as residents.

Of course, this reform also intends to turn 100 million rural residents into urban dwellers by the year 2020. At the same time, it is also meant to make it possible for those villagers-turned-workers who have long worked and stayed in cities to gradually settle down as permanent residents in the cities where they work and enjoy the same social welfare as their urban counterparts.