Around 5.1 million rural people living near Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, can now remove agricultural identity in their household registration after the provincial government announced system changes, on Nov 3, by abolishing an old dual-household system that has divided people into urban or rural residents, as of Nov 1, 2014.

The idea is to increase social equality and gradually remove all differences across China. Harbin now has 5.1 million rural people out of a total population of 9.63 million. Rural people can change their designation at the local police station as soon as the local government works out all the details.