In the past decade, however, Beijing has swiftly switched course, gradually loosening the caps on the number of children, from two children in 2016 to the recently introduced three-child policy barely five years later. Any more would be deemed “socially irresponsible,” and those who flouted the law faced harsh penalties, including stiff fines and even forced abortions. Authorities mandated that families were only permitted to have one child to counter overpopulation and raise standards of living. ![]() China’s hopes in boosting its fertility rate rest on its young families, but with the immense socioeconomic pressures they face in modern China, young couples are choosing not to expand their brood, much to the dismay of central planners in Beijing.įor more than three decades, China, the world’s most populous country, was under a blanket one-child policy. By the end of 2030, this number will grow by approximately 45%, and the story of these young city dwellers is very much that of China’s future. He’s story represents the archetypal middle-class urban family in China, which has swelled from a mere 3% of the population in 2000 to over half in 2018. When asked about the newly-introduced three-child policy, she balks: “One child’s a handful, much less three?” ![]() Lamenting the pressures of being a mother in modern China, she rattles out the bills she must pay every month: an endless list of utilities and extracurriculars among other expenses. He Ying*, 32, lives with her husband and 5-year-old daughter, affectionately nicknamed Dou Dou (“little bean” in Chinese), in a suburban flat in Ningbo, a coastal city on the outskirts of Shanghai.
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