Replacing old ID card

[prephil]

Final post for tonight. My wife lost her ID card before coming to Ireland in 2007. I think it would be a good idea for her to get a new one. What's the best way to go about reapplying when we go back on hols? She's going to be there for 72 days. I've heard it can take ages to get it replaced. She says her hukou (have never fully understood what this is) is at home somewhere but I think that means that's lost as well so she'll probably need to replace that as well or will her passport be sufficient? Document storage was never high on her priorities unfortunately.

[abcdefg]

Hopefully some of her close relatives in China have her hukou 户口.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou_system

Her shenfenzheng 身份证 is another matter. It needs to be replaced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Identity_Card

[Comrade]

Do citizens permanently living abroad even need one? In Russia you don't need to have a national ID document or a valid hukou if you have permanent residence status in a foreign country, you can just use your passport (the one for foreign travel) as an ID while back in the country, so I'd think it would be similar in China.