Are Chinese citizens allowed to move freely in and out of free trade zones in China? I heard they can't while foreigners such as tourists from the U.S. can. If this claim is true, why is it so hard to verify? I wasn't able to search it myself and every article I read on the free trade zones doesn't mention anything regarding movement.
For example, this article doesn't help.
A Chinese citizen from anywhere can move, as in travel to, any place within China mainland as long as they have the money to pay for the fares. However, it is the "finding a permanent place of living", "getting the kid into local school", "finding a job", that where you are from gets in the way. China has had this thing since ancient times called "Hu Kou" where your place of birth would determine all of the aforementioned things. This is a way to stop rural people from getting into the cities and abandoning their farmland because of low income from farming, thus decreasing the nation's food production. It is a subject hotly debated among the citizens and even the Party because so many "interest parties" are involved.
This is probably not the answer you are looking for, but I think one could argue that inside China there is no free movement of people.
Just because you are not being stopped, does not mean you have free movement. And with surveillance at a high level, people will be approached at a later stage when they are identified of being somewhere they should not be, or doing something they should not do.
