The value of Chinese lives

Feeling too happy? Need to raise your blood pressure and your anger level? Then take a look at this article, which proves that your actual dollar value as a person in China depends on where you are born.

He Qingzhi's teenage daughter, Yuan, and her two friends lived on the same street near the Yangtze River, attended the same middle school and were crushed to death in the same traffic accident late last year. After that, the symmetry ended: under Chinese law, Yuan's life was worth less than the others'.

Mr. He, 38, who has lived in this town in central China for 15 years, was told that his neighbors were entitled to roughly three times more compensation from the accident because they were registered urban residents while he was only a migrant worker.

"I was shocked," said Mr. He, as he sorted through legal papers in his apartment recently while his wife sobbed in the next room. "The girls are about the same age. They all went to the same school. Why is our life so cheap?"

Outraged, Mr. He and his lawyer are considering a lawsuit, saying the decision was discriminatory and that the family was entitled to full compensation under the Chinese Constitution. The problem with that argument is the Chinese Constitution. More Chinese citizens like Mr. He are claiming legal rights and often citing the Constitution, but it is actually a flimsy tool for protecting individual rights.

The Chinese Constitution. Please. They might as well cite the writing on a candy wrapper.
I hate the hukou system. In every way, it is a stacked deck against the farmers, creating a huge Untouchable caste and giving every benefit to the urban-born. Read the whole article to see how blatantly unfair it is. There are some glimmers of hope that Mr. He may eventually get his compensation if he keeps fighting hard enough, but that doesn't alter the fact that China's caste system is depraved and unjust in every way.