China Editorials Assail a Government System.

BEIJING -- In a country where the press is tightly managed by the state, the identical editorials that appeared Monday in more than a dozen publications calling for reform of China's onerous household registration system were noteworthy. ''China has suffered for a long time under the hukou system!'' the editorials declared, using the Chinese term for the residency permits that tie government benefits to a person's registered hometown. ''We believe in people born to be free and people possessing the right to migrate freely!'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]