The Resident Identity Card () is an official
identity document for personal identification in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. According to the second chapter, tenth clause of the ''Resident Identity Card Law'', residents are required to apply for resident identity cards from the local
Public Security Bureau
A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...
, sub-bureaus or local executive police stations.
[中华人民共和国居民身份证法 – www.gov.cn](_blank)
/ref>
History
Prior to 1984, citizens within the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
were not required to obtain or carry identification in public. On April 6, 1984, the State Council of the People's Republic of China passed the ''Identity Card Provisional Bill'' (中华人民共和国居民身份证试行条例), commencing the process of gradual introduction of personal identification, in the footsteps of many developed countries at the time. The first generation identification cards were single paged cards made of polyester
Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...
film. Between 1984 and 1991, trials for the new identity card system took place in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
and Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
. Shan Xiurong (单秀荣), a Chinese Opera performer and soprano from Beijing, was the first person to receive a first-generation identity card in China.
On September 6, 1985, the Standing Committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
of the 12th National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2,9 ...
passed the '' Identity Card Bill of the People's Republic of China'', which regulated that all citizens over the age of 16 apply for identification cards. At that point, the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China
The Ministry of Public Security () is a government ministry of the People's Republic of China responsible for public and political security. It oversees more than 1.9 million of the country's law enforcement officers and as such the vast ma ...
created a unified authority responsible for the issuing and management of the ID cards. From 2003, it is reported that a total of 1.14 billion ID cards have been created in China, for a total of 960,000,000 holders. However, as a result of technological development and certain techniques made available to the civilian population, the existing cards became relatively easier to counterfeit, opening the increasing threat of false identification.
On June 1, 2003, the National People's Congress passed the new '' Resident Identity Card Law'', which expanded the scope of documents issued, and allowed soldiers in the People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
and members of the People's Armed Police
)
, abbreviation = PAP ("People's Armed Police") CAPF ("Chinese Armed Police Force"), formerly abbreviated''Wujing'' ( zh , s = 武警 , p = Wǔjǐng , l = Armed Police , labels = no ), or WJ as on vehicle license plates
, patch ...
to apply for special identity cards. Individuals under the age of 16 were also permitted to voluntarily apply for an identification card. The law also established the use of newer, second-generation cards, which are machine-readable and more difficult to forge.
Contents
The identity card contains basic information regarding the individual, such as the following:
;Reverse side:
*Full name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...
– in Chinese character
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
s only. Non-Chinese ethnic names and foreign names are transliterated into Chinese. First-generation ID cards contained handwritten names for rare Chinese characters, whilst the second-generation cards exclusively used computer-printed text in a larger font compared to that of the first generation, and do not support rarer characters.
*Gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
– containing one character for either male (男) or female (女).
* Ethnicity – as officially listed by the People's Republic of China.
*Date of birth
A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person, or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage.
Many re ...
– listed in the Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
format, in YYYY年MM月DD日 Big-endian
In computing, endianness, also known as byte sex, is the order or sequence of bytes of a word of digital data in computer memory. Endianness is primarily expressed as big-endian (BE) or little-endian (LE). A big-endian system stores the most sig ...
(ISO 8601
ISO 8601 is an international standard covering the worldwide exchange and communication of date and time-related data. It is maintained by the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and was first published in 1988, w ...
) order.
*Domicile
Domicile may refer to:
* Home, a place where someone lives
* Domicile (astrology)
In astrology, a planet's domicile (or less commonly house, not to be confused with the astrological house system) is the zodiac sign over which it has rulership ...
– the individual's permanent residence as dictated by the ''Identity Card Bill of the People's Republic of China''.
*Identification number
An identifier is a name that identifies (that is, labels the identity of) either a unique object or a unique ''class'' of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical countable object (or class thereof), or physical noncountable ...
*Photo of the individual
;Obverse side:
*Issuing authority (first-generation cards utilised a stamp; second-generation cards display text only)
*The limits to validity of the document (for individuals under 16 years of age: five years; for individuals between 16 and 25 years of age: ten years; for individuals between 26 and 45 years of age: twenty years; for individuals over 46 years of age: long-term)
Information stored in the identity database for second-generation ID cards includes work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status, landlord's phone number and personal reproductive history. In addition, more detailed personal information can be obtained by viewing hukou
''Hukou'' () is a system of household registration used in mainland China. The system itself is more properly called "''huji''" (), and has origins in ancient China; ''hukou'' is the registration of an individual in the system (''kou'' li ...
information from the card database. Starting on January 1, 2013, Beijing has started trials to include fingerprints in the ID cards, making it more difficult to forge ID cards or for people to use the ID cards of others.
In 1984, discussion over the contents of the identity card became controversial regarding whether to include details such as "marital status" and "occupation"; considering the actual situation of the People's Republic of China at the time, these details ultimately were not included in the ID card.
The first-generation ID cards contained a black-and-white photograph portrait of the individual; following the introduction of the second-generation cards, all identification portraits are printed in colour. From 1 January 2013 a mandatory switch to the second-generation cards came into force; all first-generation cards became void and unusable. If used, first-generation cards are treated as expired ID cards, and will not be accepted. It is a criminal offense to accept first-generation ID cards if the person who accepts it know that it is a first-generation card.
The dimensions of the second-generation cards are 85.725 mm × 53.975 mm × 0.900 mm, and the identity photo is sized at 358 × 441 pixels (width by height), printed at a resolution of 350dpi on RGB using 24-bit True Color, prepared using JPEG compression techniques in line with the requirements of ISO DIS 10918-1. The final image appears as a 26 mm × 32 mm portrait box in the top-right hand corner.[
]
Additional features in ethnic minority areas
Within the ethnic minority regions in China, identity cards possess corresponding text in the respective minority language for both first-generation and second-generation cards. For example, cards officially signed and issued in Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
all contain accompanying text in Zhuang, as well as Chinese characters. According to the fourth clause of the ''Resident Identity Card Law'', "based on the ''de facto'' situation within the organs of self-government within autonomous ethnic regions, the content of the resident identity card can, alongside Chinese characters, be decided to include the text of the ethnic group exercising regional autonomy or choice of a local generic text". This law permits resident identity cards within designated ethnic minority regions to have bilingual text, and depending on region, cards may contain accompanying text in Zhuang, Uyghur, Yi, Tibetan, Mongolian or Korean.
Ethnic minority residents represented by the local autonomous region can apply to have an additional ethnic minority language displayed on their identity cards, whilst Han Chinese and other ethnic residents' cards only have Chinese characters displayed. Ethnic minorities within their representative autonomous regions can have their personal name displayed in both their native language and Chinese characters; for example, within Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, a card belonging to a Uyghur may display the cardholder's name as "" ( Effendi Nasreddin), however ethnic Kazakhs and Xibe people living in Xinjiang may only have their names written in Chinese. The following table shows the languages used on identity cards within minority regions:
Identity card number
From October 1, 1999, the PRC State Council approved the establishment of a citizen identification number system, and currently consists of an 18-digit code. This number has a function similar to that of the social security number in the United States. Each citizen has a unique number that remains unchanged for their entire lifetime.
*Address code refers to the resident's location, where administrative divisions
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
(including cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
, banners
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also ...
, and districts) have their own specific codes. (For example, the code for Xicheng District
Xicheng District () is a district of Beijing. Xicheng District spans , covering the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road - the eastern half is Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District), and has 706,691 inhabitant ...
in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
is 110102.) Change of address does not modify this code however, which means that the code therefore reflects one's birthplace or the location of one's first-time card issuance (in the case where people are born before the resident identity card system was introduced).
*Date of Birth in the form YYYY-MM-DD.
*Order code is the code used to disambiguate people with the same date of birth and address code. Men are assigned to odd numbers, women assigned to even numbers.
*The Checksum is the final digit, which confirms the validity of the ID number from the first 17 digits, utilizing ISO 7064:1983, MOD
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
11-2. The checksum is obtained by:
#Marking the Identity card number right-to-left , for the parity-check codes;
#Weight coefficient calculation ;
#:
:
#Calculation of
#
;Checksum derivation process in Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to:
* Visual Basic .NET (now simply referred to as "Visual Basic"), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET
* Visual Basic ( ...
Dim a, w, s ,id
msgbox "This procedure for checking the identity card number and or-bit",vbokonly+vbinformation,"identity check procedures"
id=inputbox("Enter the ID number 15 or 18 before the identity card numbers of 17 or","ID","11010519491231002")
if vartype(id) <> 0 then
'Test the legality of the importation of numbers
l = 0
do until l = 1
l = 1
p = ""
if len(id) <> 17 then
if len(id) <> 15 then
l = 0
p = "enter the median is not correct, please enter 15 or 17-digit."
end if
end if
for i = 1 to len(id)
a = mid(id, i, 1)
if asc(a) < asc("0") or asc(a) > asc("9") then
l = 0
p = p & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "Please enter the number, do not include the characters“" & a & "”。"
exit for
end if
next
if l = 0 then
id = inputbox("illegal input" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & p, "input error", id)
end if
loop
'Will be number 15 or 17 places to number
if len(id) = 15 then
id = left(id, 6) & "19" & right(id, 9)
end if
'Number 17 for the calculation of parity-check codes
for i = 2 to 18
a = mid(id, 19-i, 1)
w = 2^(i-1) mod 11
s = a * w + s
next
s = (12 - (s mod 11)) mod 11
if s = 10 then s = "X"
'After checking the number of output
inputbox "the identity card number of the parity-check codes for the“" & s & "”" & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & "by checking the ID card numbers are as follows:", "Check completed", id & s
end if
;Checksum derivation process in JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...
// Must input 17 bit string of RID from left to right
function calcChecksum(rid)
// Test
alert(calcChecksum('63280119790817003')); // will alert 6
;Checksum derivation process in Ruby
A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sa ...
str = "34262219840209049" #身份证前17位 first 17 digits of ID number
wi = ,9,10,5,8,4,2,1,6,3,7,9,10,5,8,4,2# Wis
s = 0 # S in the context
for i in 0..str.length-1
n = str to_i-48
s = s + n * wi end
a1 = (12 - s % 11) % 11
puts a1 # checksum
;Checksum derivation process in Python
Python may refer to:
Snakes
* Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia
** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia
* Python (mythology), a mythical serpent
Computing
* Python (pro ...
>>> id_checksum = lambda s:(1 - 2 * int(s, 13)) % 11
>>> check('63280119790817003')
6L
>>> check('34052419800101001')
10L # according to the standard, this means 'X'
;Checksum derivation process in PHP
PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group. ...
/**
*身份证验证,传入身份证,返回true即为正确。 ID number validation, pass in ID number, return true if success.
*只能传入字符串,传入参数必须加引号。 can only pass in strings, parameter should be surrounded by quote marks.
**/
function check_id_number($id)
;Checksum derivation process in R
> checkCode
function(ID)
> print(checkCode('34262219840209049'))
10
Usage of identification
The identity card is the only acceptable legal document used to obtain resident permits or driving licenses, open bank accounts, register for mobile phone numbers, apply for tertiary education and technical college for mainland Chinese citizens, and is one of the acceptable legal documents used to buy train tickets and pass through security checkpoints within domestic terminals at airports in mainland China. Documentation is also required for marriages, household registrations and legal cases.
Recently, there have been more services that require the display of Resident Identity Cards, such as at Internet cafes
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pu ...
and certain stores.
Police are required to inspect identification documents where:
* Criminal suspects need to be identified;
* To inspect those related to personnel involved in an incident;
* In the occurrence of a serious security emergency, and there is a requirement to obtain the identity of a person at the scene;
* If the law requires so during a case.
Anti-counterfeiting measures
First generation identity card
Polyester plastic film, which utilizes an anti-counterfeit laser logo.
Second generation identity card
Second-generation identity cards contain a non-contact IC chip card, a directional holographic
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
"Great Wall
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups ...
" image, an anti-counterfeiting film made of green multi-layer polyester (PETG) composite material, optical variable optical storage containing the text "中国CHINA" situated on the card, and a microfilm string generating the letters "JMSFZ" (initials for the Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
of "Jumin Shenfenzheng"), and a "Great Wall" logo revealed by ultraviolet light.[第二代居民身份证的防伪特征]
/ref>
Security and criticism
Unlike the biometric identity cards in EU countries which comply with ICAO
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...
standards, the second-generation ID card imposes older technologies similar to MIFARE
MIFARE is the NXP Semiconductors-owned trademark of a series of integrated circuit (IC) chips used in contactless smart cards and proximity cards.
The brand name covers proprietary solutions based upon various levels of the ISO/IEC 14443 Type ...
used on public transportation systems, which, unlike its ICAO-compliant counterparts, lacks the proper encryption of personal data such as BAC control, thus making the information stored on the chip openly accessible to any ID card readers at a near enough distance. Strangely, the document's validity period is not recorded on the IC chip, therefore one can only tell the validity of the document by physically examining the dates printed on the back of the card.[倾听·转型中国:丢了身份证,安全咋保障]
/ref> Also, because identity cards lacks a different numbering scheme from the citizen's identity number for Chinese nationals, there's currently no way to deregister a lost ID card completely even when the loss of the identity card is reported to the police.
/ref> The above characteristics have made identity cards vulnerable to identification theft.
See also
* Chinese Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card
The Permanent Resident Identity Card for Foreigners of the People's Republic of China, formerly known as the Permanent Resident Card for Foreigners, is a legal identity document for foreigners who have obtained permanent residence qualifications in ...
* Residence Permit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Residents
The Residence Permit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Residents is an identity document in the People's Republic of China. It is issued to ''de jure'' Chinese nationals who do not have household registration in mainland China and are permanen ...
* Taiwanese identity card
* Indian identity card
* Hong Kong identity card
* Macau identity card
* Singaporean identity card
* Identity document
References
External links
PRC Resident Identity Card law
{{Portal bar, China
Government of China
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
People's Republic of China society