Chengdu CT, i am glad you see my situation so well. In fact, I am contemplating to contact my embassy, although i am worried about the local police attitude then. My observation is that the local authorities aren't as open to westerners as they might've been 6-8 years ago and they more often consider our complaints as interferance in their own affairs. Well, I am afraid of the local authorities' repercussions then. I strongly believe that, in my case, the local police station has put two and two, or shall i say two and one, together, when they saw my wife, my little son and me there. Otherwise, i don't really get their reasoning behind their refusal to renew/re-issue my wife's passport. Note that some Chinese nationals following their spouses and moving out of the country have apparently been asked for tens of thousands Yuan as some sort of "repayments" for, i suppose, the country's healthcare, educations and who knows what.

With regards to my wife's ID card and hukou, she's tried to renew her still valid ID a couple of times. She was sent around and nobody helped her. The local police was completely unhelpful if not hostile. They sent her to some local "district official" who would've to, in the words of this police official, AGREE to issue her the new ID card. Trying to find this fella was a mission impossible and when accompished it was for nothing. Then, once, my wife tried to move her hukou to her hometown and register with her mother there, but unbelievably she was not allowed to do so.

China's a huge and a rather divers country and peoples people have to be controlled to some extent (Jackie Chen would agree) as moving around could trigger higher unemployment or crime rate, and then it could also have other effects on local/provincial economies. However, when someone is prevented from moving back to his/her hometown or getting what s/he is entitled to according to the country's own regulations, it's a clear issue of freedom of rights which in this case affects the whole family, me (a for ever foreigner on mainland) inclusive. Really, at this point, I just want to travel with my wife and son, 'cause my son needs a visa in his Canadian passport. It's incredible that, as it looks, that a father does not count here as much as a local mother which needs to be present when traveling abroad with the (foreign) child.

Cheers and beers to all of your fine replies that've helped me breath better