"Hukou" is a resident permit given by the government of China. It is issued on family basis. Every family has a "hukou" booklet that records information about all the family members, including name, birth date, relationship with each other, marriage status(状况), address and so on.

户口是由中国政府授予居民的一种居住许可证，它以家庭为单位颁发。每个家庭都有一个户口簿，里面记录了家庭成员的名字、出生日期、相互之间的关系、婚姻状况、家庭地址等诸如此类的信息。

The household registration system was set up in 1958 to serve four purposes: government welfare(福利) and resource distribution(分配), migration(迁移) control and criminal surveillance(监管). Chinese citizens are assigned either a rural or an urban household "hukou" based on their place of residence. Local governments are responsible for providing everyone whose "hukou" is in its jurisdiction(权限) with basic services to satisfy his daily needs, such as education, housing and medical care.

这种家庭注册制度建立于1958年，以配合政府福利及资源的分配、居民迁移控制以及犯罪监管等政策。中国居民基于其所在地的不同，被分别赋予城市户口或农村户口。当地政府有责任为其管辖范围内的户口拥有者提供基本服务以满足其在教育、住房以及医疗保障等方面的日常需要。

Although, now "hukou" is becoming less and less important, for most Chinese, it still stands for a sense of belonging. Therefore, a man who is working in a city without his "hukou" there will have a sense of floating. However, in recent years, since more and more people tend to pursue jobs in big cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and the like, the "floa ters" is familiar to us. "Without ‘hukou', without house". Sometimes, they have to live on odd jobs and live in rented houses.

虽然户口的重要性正在一点点被削弱，但是对于大多数中国人而言，户口仍代表了一种归属感。因此，在一个不同于自己户口所在地的地方工作将会使人产生一种漂浮感。然而近年来，由于越来越多的人趋向于到北京、上海等大城市工作，"漂一族"逐渐被大家所熟知。"没有户口，便没有住房"，有时候，"漂一族"不得不打些零工，靠租房过日子。