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.
