One law in particular, the One-Child Limit, really gets to me. Basically, this 30+ year rule is that each family is only allowed to have one child. That's it. Only one kid. It's supposed to 'control' population growth.
If we and our friends lived in China we would look like this:
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| Can't imagine life without our 'MuiMui' |
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| And what about our 'Big Fella'? Munchkin would be all alone |
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| How about theses families.. neither would have any brothers (1 for the left; 2 for the right) |
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| CorCor would be missing his brother and sister |
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| My 'Big Man' would not have his 2 brothers to boss around. |
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| What about this 'Brady Bunch'? Their big house would be pretty empty without their additional 5 running around. |
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| Chellie-Bellie would be missing her 'best-ies' |
Actually a growing number of parents are defying the law to have another child in China. Not because they want a son but because they want another child to love. In a news article I read, a mother hides her pregnancy when she's out in public and fears that Family Planning Officials would see her and drag her to the hospital for a forced abortion. Many risk losing their jobs, savings and physical safety to have this 'forbidden second child'. Heavy fines are imposed on violators. They must pay a 'social compensation fee' which can be four to nine times a family's annual income depending on where they live (province) and their local family planning bureau.
But these families are representing the changing ideas of individual rights. They do not want to have the government dictate how many children they should have. They have formed 'private' blogs and chat rooms to discuss ways to get around the one-child policy.
This group also feels that the Chinese have been brainwashed to think that it is beneficial and a blessing to have a small family. But unknowingly they are influencing not only the population growth but rapid population aging and young people not wanting to have children. A Director for Public Policy in China worries that as the baby boom generation of the 1960's heads into retirement and old age, their labor force, sharply reduced by the one-child policy, will struggle to support them.
Funny thing is that a long time ago, our Chinese grandparents had a ton of kids. My paternal grandmother had probably 6-7 kids (she lost 2-3 as young children; 1 also died giving birth) and my husband's maternal grandmother had 10 kids! I guess that's where the population boomed a little too much!
Now if you travel to China, you will see many parents with just one child .. and it's probably a boy. A very doted-upon spoiled little kid probably. Curious to see what the boy-girl ratio is there now.
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This is actually changing quite rapidly based on lots of (hopefully truthful) conversations I've been having in the last 7 months. Many of the provinces allow more than one kid, and I've made adult friends who are recent transplants to Macau from China who were raised with more than one sibling. I hope that continues to be more normal! Interestingly, when we lived in Hong Kong seven years ago, the HK government was doing a big push on billboards and stamps and flyers which said, "Two children is good, but three would be better!" HK at the time had a negative birth rate (more people were dying than being born on average) because the trend was work, work, work, don't take time to have a family! I wasn't okay with that any more than I am okay with China limiting the number of kids! I don't want the government (or anyone else for that matter) telling me to have or not have kids! So bizzare!
...chilling. i immediately associated our government coming up with more and more rules & regulations for us here in the good old U.S.A. did you see the "big news" yesterday about the pre-schooler that had her home-packed lunch deemed "unhealthy'??? AND the mom will be billed for the "healthy" food that was given her daughter in it's place!!! oye vey!
My father-in-law had some insightful words to share regarding this issue:
"Shame doesn't come from race, but from personal integrity and character.
Chinese now are flocked to HK to give birth to a second child to get away from the one child policy.
People cannot pray in public schools because of policies in US, they have no way to go. They are ashamed of the policy but not the race."
He has a very good point. I have to not 'stereotype' that all Chinese in China think the same.
I also read an article regarding the mainland Chinese going to HK to give birth. The hospitals in HK are significantly overwhelmed with Chinese coming from the mainland to have their babies there. The baby will get special benefits since is was born there. It's like people coming to the US to have their babies. They automatically get US citizenship if there are born here. It shows you what people will do to give their child a better life... starting at birth.
You may find this article interesting... First ‘birth tourism’ sentencing made in Hong Kong. The person got sentanced to 10 months in prison in HK for assisting Mainland mothers to cross the border to have their babies in HK. It's all over the news like crazy here!
http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/16/10422157-first-birth-tourism-sentencing-made-in-hong-kong
Heather, Thanks for the eye-opening article! On another note, I get such a kick out of knowing that I'm talking with you (through the computer) even though you are all the way on the other side of the world in a different time zone on a different day! Even though you are so far you feel so close as if you were just down the street from me. :) Hugs across the globe my dear friend!
One more comment, here in Macau (another SAR to China) you do NOT have right of abode if you are born here. Only if your parents are ethnic Chinese and were born here/have residency, or if you were Portugese and your parents were residents and you were born prior to the handover back to China do you have automatic residency. Every single expat woman I have met who has had a child while living in Macau has gone over to HK to have their baby. I thought it was because the hospitals were bad! But it's actually so the baby can have the right of residency, which can perhaps help the parents' career path. So it's not just Mainlanders crossing the border to give birth, it's the expat community in Macau!
You too, Cez! Hugs! Now get a facebook account and we can do this all the time! ;)
I read in that article Heather posted that 45% of the births in HK in 2010 were from mainland Chinese. That was 39,600 births out of 88,000! Almost half! That is so crazy!!!!
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