China will allow more than one birth with a catch!

[Retired]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-09-09-1Achinaonechild09_ST_N.htm

 

 

"In 2011, China will start pilot projects in five provinces, all of which have low birth rates, to allow a second birth if at least one spouse is an only child, says He Yafu, an independent demographer who is in close contact with policymakers"

 

"For three decades, China's one-child policy has set family sizes in the world's most populous nation — and symbolized the tight social controls set by its ruling Communist Party. Exceptions have been made, such as allowing rural farm families to have a second child if the first is a girl."

 

"Cindy Zhao, who is eight months pregnant with her second child, can't wait. "I will be punished, but we can afford it," says Zhao of the likely $30,000 fine for her illegal birth."

 

I can't imagine paying a $30,000 dollar fine for having a second child.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Cafelattee
grammar

[rootsnwings]

:iagree:

 

Soooo much we take for granted!!!! PTL we live in the land of the free!!!!

[Laura Corin]

From the start, members of ethnic minorities were allowed to have more than one child - otherwise the result would have been genocide. More recently, if both parents are only children, they can have two children. This latter circumstance probably covers the majority of city dwellers aged 25 or less.

 

What is interesting is how much social pressure there is not to have a second child. I know one family of sisters who belong to an ethnic minority, none of whom has had a second child. A single child is the norm, and a second is seen as a lot of work and a lot of money. People used to look pityingly at me because I had two. I rarely heard people wishing they could have a second.

 

Please note: I am not supporting the policy, just adding more detail to the picture.

 

Laura

[RoughCollie]

I think that over-population is a serious problem in some countries and a solution needs to be found that actually works morally and ethically. I suppose that depends on the morals and ethics of that particular society, not upon our own. I don't compare the U.S. to those countries because there is no comparison. Our population increases mainly due to factors other than our citizens are having too many children, and we have the luxury of not having to consider over-population when we are choosing how many children to have. Also, we have a choice about how many children to have -- and in many countries, there is no viable choice except abstinence.

[Stacy in NJ]

the one child policy for the poor. It's called China's Stolen Children and was heart-breaking.

 

Here's a link:http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/chinas-stolen-children/index.html#/documentaries/chinas-stolen-children/synopsis.html

Edited September 10, 2010 by Stacy in NJ

[Farrar]

In addition to what Laura said about ethnic minorities, I understand peasant families on farms are allowed to have more children. Also that people can have another child if they have enough money to independently support every aspect of that child's life (school, health care and everything else that the gov't would provide) and in addition pay a very large government fine. When I lived there several years ago, a knew a family with a ten year old who had been saving for a second child for years and that's how they explained it to me. A number of rising middle class parent I encountered expressed concern that the government's policy would create a nation of undereducated people by only allowing peasants to have more than one kid and controlling the more urban population more closely.

 

Again, not supporting, just adding...

[angela in ohio]

From the start, members of ethnic minorities were allowed to have more than one child - otherwise the result would have been genocide. More recently, if both parents are only children, they can have two children. This latter circumstance probably covers the majority of city dwellers aged 25 or less.

 

I was thinking the same thing. We know several students from China who are from families of multiple children, and they have given us greater detail about the rules. One's parents were able to afford the fines associated with a second child and a few were raised in a rural area. Another was born to parents who were both only children.

[Cricket]

From the start, members of ethnic minorities were allowed to have more than one child - otherwise the result would have been genocide. More recently, if both parents are only children, they can have two children. This latter circumstance probably covers the majority of city dwellers aged 25 or less.

 

What is interesting is how much social pressure there is not to have a second child. I know one family of sisters who belong to an ethnic minority, none of whom has had a second child. A single child is the norm, and a second is seen as a lot of work and a lot of money. People used to look pityingly at me because I had two. I rarely heard people wishing they could have a second.

 

Please note: I am not supporting the policy, just adding more detail to the picture.

 

Laura

 

We have always caused quite a stir among the wait staff and owners of the Chinese restaurants (if they were Chinese!). We only have four kids but they constantly "ooo" and "aah" over the kids. We've had waitresses ask to hold the youngest one when she was a baby. They would pick her up and carry her all around the restaurant while we ate. I always wondered if it had something to do with the fact that they had only one or two of their own children and wanted more.

[nono]

 

I can't imagine paying a $30,000 dollar fine for having a second child.

 

But people here do it all the time via fertility treatments or adoption fees.

[DawnM]

I think there are big salary differences though.

 

Dawn

 

But people here do it all the time via fertility treatments or adoption fees.

[TXMomof4]

I think there are big salary differences though.

 

Dawn

 

"On August 16 2008 the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Development and Reform Commission announced that they had confirmed with the World Bank that China's national per capita national income has reached US$1,740."

 

I can't even imagine.

[Laura Corin]

They would pick her up and carry her all around the restaurant while we ate. I always wondered if it had something to do with the fact that they had only one or two of their own children and wanted more.

 

I don't know your ethnicity, but fair skin is valued, so a fair skinned baby is a double treat. If you talk to people though, they ask about how you manage two or more children, and comment about how it must be very hard, how they find it hard to cope with one. The memory of how to deal with more than one child is fading, and people want more for their child than they could afford if they had two. Of course, there must be exceptions, but I haven't met them - most people seem to want to pour their resources into a single child. I didn't have much contact with people who live in the country though - things may be different there.

 

Laura

[Rhonda in TX]

It was heartbreaking. There may be cases where second children are allowed, but there are also cases where they're not, and babies are murdered at birth if they are a girl. It's a tragedy.

[nono]

"On August 16 2008 the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Development and Reform Commission announced that they had confirmed with the World Bank that China's national per capita national income has reached US$1,740."

 

I can't even imagine.

 

I can't imagine some of the things I read on here, i.e. people who have very large families and very low salaries. Things cost sooooo little in some parts of China, it's unfathomable to an American. And, often having family in place to assist drives costs for a family even lower.

 

So, who's worse off? The American family with 6+ or a Chinese family with 3-4? It varies. The American family wouldn't make it in Manhattan, but might in Pittsburgh. The Chinese might do fine in a smaller capital city like Changsha, but not so much in Shanghai.

 

$30,000 US would definitely be easier to swing for some Chinese v. some Americans. And vice versa.