A screenshot from CCTV news of Wang Nana (Photo/CCTV)
Wang and Liu spent many hours traveling back and forth between their local public security bureau and related government offices to prove their identities, but now, both have some sort of closure.
In Wang's case, three people suspected of fabricating fake identity certificates have been detained while investigations continue. Meanwhile, Liu obtained a new hukou at the beginning of the month, and her case is also being investigated.
Legal professionals said that the cases were just the tip of an iceberg made possible by the country's poor management of identity security.
Although it is just a small piece of paper, the hukou certificate is far more than just proof of residence because it details a person's marital status, eligibility for unemployment benefit, health service status, education opportunities and pension. As such the hukou and an ID card are the most important documents in a Chinese citizen's life.
Moreover, experts say there is a huge difference between the benefits bestowed by rural and urban residence permits - for example, unemployment benefit is lower in rural areas.
The problem of identity theft has fluctuated in recent years. In 2009, nearly 1.7 million people possessed duplicate hukou certificates. In 2013, the police canceled 790,000 fake certificates. The number soared to 2.5 million in 2014, but by March last year, it had fallen to 486, according to statistics released by the ministry in December.
Ruan Chuansheng, a criminal lawyer in Shanghai, said that the fabrication of identities will only be eradicated through stricter law enforcement by public security departments and government offices.
An uneventful life
Wang lived an uneventful life until she discovered that someone had stolen her identity and taken her place at college.
"I was very depressed when I was told that I had 'failed' the college entrance exam, but I got over it. I got married, looked for a job and had children," she said. "My mind went blank when the bank clerk told me that there was something wrong with my identity papers."
In fact, Wang had passed the college entrance exam, but the letter offering her a place at university in 2003 was intercepted by the father of another student, a girl called Zhang Yingying, who then attended college under Wang's name. When she graduated Zhang was presented with a certificate that carried her photo but showed Wang's name and ID number. After graduation, she landed a job as a teacher at a vocational school.
When the Zhoukou police investigated the case, they discovered that Wang's enrollment letter had not been delivered to her home in the city's Shenqiu county, but had instead been handed over to Zhang's father in nearby Shangshui county.
When the investigators uncovered the fact that Zhang had failed the college entrance exam in 2003, her father, Zhang Heting, confessed that he had bribed the teacher in charge of mailing enrollment letters to obtain Wang's. He then bribed police officers to obtain a fake ID card and hukou for his daughter.
Now, 13 people alleged to have been involved in the case have been detained, and three of them - those said to have fabricated false hukou certificates - are under further investigation.
