Contents
The Dang'an includes information typically found in a : physical characteristics, employment record, photograph, etc. However, it also contains many other documents that would be considered private in some other cultures. According to Wang Fei-ling and other sources, this includes appraisals by supervisors and peers, academic reports from primary school to university, professional credentials, any criminal convictions or administrative penalties, club/society memberships, employment records and political history . Some of the material is composed by the subject. Even the death certificate and eulogy may be placed in the file.
There are two copies for adults: one held on behalf of their work unit by its supervisory organization, and the other at the local Public Security Bureau . Access to dang'an is strictly controlled. Citizens do not usually see their dang'an, although they may ask a Communist Party member to check it for them. Alterations may only be carried out by special cadres, and when combined with the custom of guanxi the result is that "Personal revenge, false entries and special favors are thus part of the game."
A Montreal-based human rights group has claimed that the PSB in the process of computerizing the hundreds of millions of dang'an.
Significance
During the Maoist era, these dossiers were consulted by work unit officials as they made decisions about the major life events of those under their control. Urban residents were assigned jobs by the state. Thereafter, permission from the work unit was needed for marriage, childbirth and transferring the dang'an . During the Cultural Revolution era, there even used to determine which individuals and families would be sent to carry out manual labour in the countryside, under the ''theory of bloodlines''. As late as 2003, academic Zhou Jinghao could write that "A work unit controls employees basically through the dangan system. An employee cannot transfer to another work unit without his dangan."
As has proceeded, the situation has been less clear-cut, as the dang'an system conflicts with market-oriented labour contracts. Graduates have been able to choose their own employment since the mid 1990s in most regions , and marriage has not required work unit consent since 2003. Some private companies in prosperous Guangdong do not even require access to the files, which remains with the employee's . However, individuals may still be granted or denied passports, promotions and other benefits based on information in their dang'an. According to BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, "A black mark against you – a bad school report, a disagreement with your boss, a visit to a psychiatrist – all can travel with you for the rest of your life…" They are also used in investigations by the Ministry of State Security.
Limitations of the dang'an system
An embryonic dang'an is created when individuals enter the school system. This is similar to the permanent file of a school student in some Western school systems, and is transferred from school to school, but is required for entry to university or a work unit, to which the file is then transferred. Millions of peasants, who work on family farms and small businesses, never acquire a dang'an. Those who do are classified as either cadres or workers . It is difficult to cross this boundary.
According to Zhou, "private and foreign-funded enterprises are no longer required to receive the dang'an when they hire employees." Instead, foreign firms transfer them to the .
The future of dang'an was questioned by Qiao Shi, 's number three leader in the mid-90s. In 1996, he proposed to the National People's Congress that the dang'an system be abolished. Both Qiao and the proposal fell out of favour the following year.
Influence in US culture
The right-wing activist John Taylor Gatto frequently refers to dang'an in his critique of the US school system.
No comments:
Post a Comment