The survey, which questioned 14,290 career women about their work and life choices, also showed that 29 percent had not yet had any children, and 20 percent did not want children at all.

When asked why they didn’t want children, 56 percent cited the high costs involved. More than 70 percent of women reportedly would not leave their jobs to become mothers.

The survey seems to be at odds with the expectations of the Chinese government. Three decades of the one-child policy came to an end earlier this year, and government authorities are expecting something of a baby boom, with up to an estimated three million extra births each year. This increase would boost the overall birth rate by over 20 million.

Last month, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning announced it would set aside more maternity beds in advance of the predicted surge.

Chinese cities are actively trying to encourage couples to have more babies. Shanghai is one of many Chinese cities that is extending parental leave for both fathers and mothers.

The post One Child Policy Gone, but Chinese Women Aren’t Interested in Having a Second Kid appeared first on The Nanfang.

After 36 years, China’s one-child policy has now come to an abrupt end. Urban Chinese families are no longer forced to only have a single child, allowing people to have siblings for the first time in two generations.

And yet, the Chinese public are not taking advantage of the new reforms, preferring to maintain the status quo with one child. Unfortunately for China, this flies in the face of government policy since there has become a need for more births as a looming labor shortage awaits.

Reasons to explain the failure of the new two-child policy to produce more Chinese births can range from the high cost of living, jealousy by single children towards siblings and potential rivals, or the fact that 2015 was considered an “unlucky” year to have children.

Like other official policies, the one-child policy was promoted throughout China on signs and billboards. Chinese were told that having fewer children was their national duty to make China a better place. Now that that policy has changed, so has the message.

This past March during their annual meeting, the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference proposed to modernize outdated slogans promoting birth control and improve family planning services in order to boost the country’s flagging fertility rate.

That said, they have got a lot of work ahead of them. The era of the one-child policy has produced innumerable pieces of propaganda extolling the virtues of the one-child policy. From now on, the Chinese government has to subvert their previous message. Instead, they will promote the idea that having lots of babies is a good idea that provides benefits to family and country, something that was not the case before.

Here’s a brief recap of the propaganda from the one-child policy era:

From the start, propaganda posters usually have a simple and direct message. The writing on the poster in this undated photograph (seen above) reads, “Giving birth to just one child is best.”

In this old photograph, the poster behind the smiling mothers with their babies has writing on the top that reads, “Family planning is good.”

The Revolutionary Era produced a very identifiable style with vibrant colors. While the one-child policy was instituted way after that time period, the art style and message persist in later works. The above poster reads, “Practice family planning to support the revolution.”

This poster reads: “Practice family planning to support the revolution.”

One-child policy propaganda can also be seen on outdoor signs written with simple messages. This outdoor sign reads (in red lettering to the left): “Family planning is a fundamental national policy”; in smaller lettering to the right: “Having just one child is best”.

“Fewer births of high quality benefits the country and its people”.

“The quality of life will decline when a family has many children”.

The mural (seen above) has three stages in it where a family is depicted as having progressively more children. From left to right: (one child) Well-off; (two children) Nervous; (three children) Panic.

Here’s a traffic sign by the edge of a rural road that reads: “Friend: Have you implemented family planning (as part of your lifestyle)?”

This sign reads, “The mothers of the world are too tired, and can no longer hold up too many children.”

We’ve seen a number of old posters and outdoor signs, but propaganda for the one-child policy had also extended to the Internet. The picture above says, “Maintaining a low and stable birth rate will raise the quality of the births and the population”.

The poster above, also featuring a family of three with obscured faces, reads: “Getting married and giving birth late; having fewer births of better quality; these are the things that will provide you happiness for a lifetime.”

“Controlling the increase of the population will promote the advancement of society”.

“Few births means better morals and essence; both boys and girls are valuable.”

“Control the population; protect the environment; cherish the homeland”.

Sometimes, these signs were downright harsh. We’re not sure where this above sign is located, such as in a residence area perhaps, but it reads: “Revised family planning ordinances state that fines for exceeding the limit will not be lenient. Having one extra birth over the limit will incur an RMB 14,000 fine; having two children over the limit will incur a RMB 25,000 fine.”

And sometimes they are downright creepy. The sign above reads: “You can beat it out! You can have it come out as a defect! You can let it flow out (as in an abortion). But under no circumstances are you to give birth to it.”

These signs have been telling generations of Chinese to have fewer babies for the good of the country. Now, the opposite is true, and Chinese are now told to have double the number of babies they had before for the national good.  What kind of propaganda would this be?

Thanks to the China Daily, we have a glimpse of what these posters could possibly be:

We’re not sure from where the China Daily got these altered images, but even if people agree with these messages, they likely won’t identify with these images other than via nostalgia at this point.

But then, the message changes with the times. For instance, at the dawn of the People’s Republic of China, there was a belief that “the more people the country had, the more powerful it would become”. And so, keeping with the message of the time, the population of China exploded from 540 million in 1949 to 830 million by 1970.

But by then, it was realized that this policy was not working, and so the one-child policy was instituted. And for that, the message was the propaganda we see here… that is, until its time for a new message. Like now.

The post A Short Pictorial History of China’s One-Child Policy Propaganda appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Law on Population and Family Planning, to come in effect in Shanghai on March 1, will grant mothers an additional 30-days of maternity leave in conjunction with the current 98 days granted by national laws, giving Shanghai mothers a total of 128 days of maternity leave.

New Shanghainese fathers are also extended benefits, with paid paternity leave extended from 3 to 10 days.

Shanghai joins Beijing and Shandong in following the lead of Guangdong, which had first offered the extended benefits earlier this year.

As of January 1, Guangdong mothers were given an additional 30 days on top of the nationally-mandated maternity leave, while husbands will now be given 15 days off to spend with their wife and new child. Beijing also looks to increase maternity leave from 98 days to 128 days, while Shandong will increase maternity leave for its residents to a full 60 days.

The national maternity leave was last altered in 2012 when it was extended from 90 to 98 days.

About 90 million families are estimated to qualify for the revised second-child policy, thought to help raise the population of China to an estimated 1.45 billion by 2030. The population of China in 2014 was 1.37 billion.

China revealed a conditional two-child policy at the end of 2014 which was revised to be fully unconditional with the abolition of the long-standing one-child policy which was first implemented in 1979.

Population controls are now being relaxed in order to alleviate oncoming labor shortages as well as a gender gap that estimates a disparity of 30 million more Chinese men than women.

The post In Effort to Promote Second Children, Shanghai Extends Maternity Leave appeared first on The Nanfang.

“Labor resources between the ages of 20 and 34 will plunge year by year from 2021,” says Yao Meixiong, deputy head of the Center for Population Census of Fujian Provincial Bureau of Statistics. “The drop could amount to 11 million a year from 2022 to 2025. By 2030, the young labor force will be just 221 million, 104 million fewer than in 2010.”

Official statistics say the number of workers between 16 and 59 decreased by 3.7 million from the year before in 2014.

Yao warned that China’s gender imbalance will only exacerbate demographic issues going forward: “In 2010, among people under 19, there were 22.1 million more males than females,” he said. “From 2020, 10 percent of young men will find it hard to find a wife.”

China first lifted the restrictions on its one-child policy in 2014. Among other conditions, Chinese parents are now allowed to apply to have a second child if either parent is a result of the one-child policy themselves. However, despite many Chinese eager to have a second child, others are deciding to have only one child due to financial restraints.

The post China to Face Serious Labor Shortage As Early As 2021 appeared first on The Nanfang.

With 11 million eligible couples, experts predicted the two-child policy would result in one million additional births in 2015. So what went wrong?

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the issue is female demographics. The number of Chinese women aged 15 to 49 decreased by five million in 2015 from the year before. At the same time, women between 20 and 29 years old, thought to be the optimal time for procreation, declined by 1.5 million.

The commission denied that the declining birth rate was the result of public superstition around the Year of the Goat (or ram, or lamb), though not entirely. Toward the end of 2014, expectant mothers were self-inducing birth before the arrival of the unlucky Year of the Ram. Accordingly, many families decided to hold off on giving birth until the following zodiac cycle, which commenced with the Year of the Monkey.

As for why the Year of the Goat, is deemed to be unlucky, the superstition dates all the way back to the Qing Dynasty. Due to stringent restrictions on freedom of expression, Chinese would often speak in code to express their hatred of the Dowager Empress, Cixi. They coined the phrase “Nine out of ten goats are unlucky”, a subtle jab at Cixi who was born in the Year of the Lamb.

In order to dissuade Chinese from perpetuating the belief that the Year of the Lamb is unlucky, the People’s Daily Online explained that the character for lamb is part of many Chinese words for “lucky”. It also offered examples of successful people born in the Year of the Lamb, including Chow Yun-Fat and Steve Jobs.

With the Year of the Lamb out of the way for another 12 years, the number of newborns is expected to rise. The National Health and Family Planning Commission anticipates anywhere from 17.5 to 21 million newborns each year over the next five years.

The post Despite New Two-Child Policy, Fewer Chinese Give Birth in “Unlucky” 2015 appeared first on The Nanfang.

On November 23, Financial Times correspondent Patti Waldmeir wrote a column on how China’s new two-child policy is doomed to fail because Chinese mothers don’t want additional babies, and that the country is suffering from a “sex shortage.”

Simplified to “too many abortions, too little sex and too few sperm,” Waldmeir mused that the lack of sex among Chinese “has something to do with the fact that a large proportion of 20-somethings still live with their mother (and for that matter, their grandmothers) in cramped urban flats. Surely that’s better than the best contraceptive.”

Well, if you want to know where the line is drawn in the sand, this is it.

The People’s Daily Online responded to the Financial Times with a furious op-ed written by Jiang Bin that blasted Waldmeir for not crediting her sources and for writing “biased assumptions and groundless accusations.” Jiang slammed Waldmeir for using the terms “maybe” and “likely to be” as part of her column as well as not being “respectful to facts nor responsible for the readers”.

Jiang refuted Waldmeir’s assertion that young Chinese still live with their parents with the only fresh evidence presented in the op-ed (along with six netizen comments). Jiang writes:

We happen to have our statistics here, if Ms. Waldmeir would like to take the time to read it. Peking University Institute of Social Science Survey released a report entitled “China’s Development Report of People’s Well-being” in 2012, which shows that 75.2 percent of married couples do not live with their parents in China.

But let’s disregard that Jiang quoted a source about married Chinese, whereas Waldmeir did not make that distinction. Instead, let’s go back to Waldmeir’s original thesis that Chinese aren’t having babies in part because they’re not having sex. It’s clearly seen in the People’s Daily Online screenshot, as it is in the Financial Times’ headline: “Wanted: more people to make babies in China.” If we do this, we can see that Jiang has deviated from Waldmeir’s point in order to bolster her own argument.

Jiang asks how Waldmeir, a non-Chinese journalist from a non-Chinese country, possibly knows about the intimate details of the sex lives of Chinese white collar workers? Well, if Waldmeir reads Chinese news media, she may be able to figure it out.

Like this article from the China Daily from the end of last year, a story in which the Nanfang reported over half of all surveyed Chinese white collar respondents said they have sex less than once a month:

Or if you want something more trustworthy, how about this October 2015 news article from the People’s Daily Online upon which the Nanfang reported over 70 percent of surveyed Chinese said they are unsatisfied with their sex lives due to reasons of stress and depression:

And because they’re always up to date on such matters, here’s a 2013 news article, again from the People’s Daily Online:

It may be that all Jiang wanted to prove is that married Chinese couples don’t live with their parents, and needed to set the record straight with Waldmeir’s column. And yet, we’re still waiting for any arguments from Jiang and the People’s Daily Online that can refute Waldmeir’s claims of a Chinese “sex shortage” that is fueling a lack of pregnancies.

All the same, Jiang is able to toss in the final insult at Waldmeir by saying, “No wonder this paper has lost its legacy of being a well-known opinion field, and has been sold to Japan.”

On the upside, at least Jiang is acknowledging that the Financial Times used to be famous, as respectfully shown in Jiang’s writing by refraining from using the terms “maybe” and “likely to be.”

The post People’s Daily Slams Financial Times Column Saying Chinese People Don’t Have Sex appeared first on The Nanfang.

According to data released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning last week, only 10 percent of eligible couples are actually interested in giving their kid a brother or sister.

According to the data, 55,851 of qualified Beijing couples applied to have a second child as of October this year, accounting for just one-tenth of the estimated 550,000 eligible couples. In the country as a whole, 1.45 million couples applied to have a second baby by May of this year, accounting for just 13 percent of all eligible couples, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

At the end of 2013 China introduced a policy allowing couples to have a second child if one of the parents is an only child. A previous version required both parents to be the only children in their families.

However, China’s new, much more expansive, two child policy has not led to a surge in interest for second children. A recent CCTV poll found that 30 percent of parents said they are not willing to have a second child because they don’t have enough money.

Credit Suisse economist, Dong Tao, estimates that the cost of raising a child until adulthood in China is 499,200 yuan, or around 27,700 yuan a year, which doesn’t account for education expenses. “The high cost of raising a child is probably China’s new birth control,” said Dong.

Announced October 29, the end of the one child policy has yet to be ratified by the National People’s Congress, and remains law until such time.

According to Wang Peian, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China’s government estimates that with 90 million couples eligible to have two children, births will increase over the next few years, eventually peaking at over 20 million newborns a year.

Related:

• Guangdong’s New “Two-Child Policy” Off to a Rocky Start
• Shenzhen Documentary “Come On, Baby” Criticized for its “Painful” Childbirth

The post They Now Have The Chance, But Few Chinese Couples Want More Than One Kid appeared first on The Nanfang.

China’s one child policy has long been seen as an oppressive regulation that infringes on basic human rights, however exceptions to the law have long existed for certain families, such as those from certain areas or belonging to ethnic minorities. Some predicted a baby boom once the policy was lifted on a larger scale, but that hasn’t happened.

A CCTV poll found 30 percent of parents said they are not willing to have a second child because they don’t have enough money. Of those who want to have a second kid, providing companionship for their first born was the top reason for doing so (40 percent).

China’s one-child policy mandated children to have only one child at most, however the relaxation allows any couples with a parent who is an only child to have a second kid.

China’s only-child generation is growing up with some substantial burdens. Without any other siblings, a single child will be responsible for at least four elderly adults who will need care in their old age (father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law).

China’s elderly population is growing fast and putting more demands on social welfare and medical services. In Shanghai, a third of the registered population is classified as elderly.

Photo: CCTV

The post China’s One Child Policy is Relaxed, but Little Interest in a Second Child Anyway appeared first on The Nanfang.

The show follows three ordinary mothers as they go through all the various steps of labor: from before the water breaks, through each of the many contractions and right at the moment the baby is finally born.

However, for documenting the miracle of life, Come On, Baby has incurred online controversy and been criticized for having content that is “too strong”. Mothers are shown in varying moments of pain as they cry out in anguish and wince in pain amid blood and sweat.

For being a documentary about childbirth, people have complained that Come On, Baby is too forthcoming in its depiction of childbirth.

Various Weibo comments are as follows, many grouped under the hashtag #Are you brave enough to watch a mother give birth?:

耶鲁宝贝：
Watched a bit of the Shenzhen documentary Come On, Baby and was a bit horrified by it. I don’t suggest anyone to watch it. Everyone’s situation is different, but to watch this show is only to add to your psychological trauma, and it won’t match the perfect, happy way you imagine it to be.

软妺:
#Come On, Baby# I will never have the courage to watch this show about having babies. It’s too terrifying; I feel as though a shadow has cast over my heart. [pitiful face] It’s too difficult to be a woman. Men, you should treat the woman by your side nicer. Are you able to endure the pain that women go through during pregnancy? [disappointed face]

A_moment_like_this_Zzz_:
After watching the episode “Male OB-GYN Doctor”, are you brave enough to give birth to a baby? It’s just too terrifying. It’s even more horrifying than a horror movie. There’s a splatter of blood; seeing that knife cut into the abdomen scared me half to death. [pitiful face] Really, to be a mother is the greatest role of all; Mother’s Day is the most meaningful festival ever.

鄭碧華-Becky:
Come On, Baby: After watching this, I felt like I could never give birth to a baby of my own [ill face]. Simultaneously, I feel that motherhood is so wondrous and great. Today is Mother’s Day, I wish my mother a happy Mother’s Day! [heart] [heart] Now I feel bad for my past behavior of being rebellious and contradictory towards my mother. Mother, I love you! At the same time, I also wish happiness to mothers everywhere, not just today, but happiness everyday.

Jessie瑾欣:
After watching a bit of the childbirth documentary, I didn’t dare to watch anymore of it, I simply couldn’t bear it. For one thing, it was difficult to face such physical pain, and for another, I felt shame at what my parents (have done for me).

温瞳41:
After watching Come On, Baby, I really don’t dare to give birth to a baby of my own. I feel that motherhood is too great a role for me. I must dutifully love and honor my mother [love you] [love you]

阿飞家的瑶瑶:
After watching the documentary on childbirth, I really don’t want to give birth to a baby of my own, it’s too horrifying. However, motherhood is really a great thing. Husbands that don’t treat their wives well should be drowned in a pig basket!!!

独立自主牌毛毛虫补脑液:
#Come On, Baby# After watching the show I wasn’t able to go to sleep, and now I don’t dare to give birth to a baby of my own. All I want to say is: mother, you’ve had it tough. [heart]

张小花小同学:
Watched “Male OB-GYN Doctor”. I really don’t have the courage to give birth to a baby. This morning, I overheard two female colleagues chatting in the elevator who said their children had wished them a happy mother’s day, and I was suddenly very moved by hearing it, really. These women were just 45 years-old.

超级无敌左:
#Come On, Baby# The first time I saw such a documentary, I didn’t want to have a baby anymore after watching it. Watching this show one time is enough. [tears]

居有竹食有肉:
Some co-workers saw Come On, Baby and directly stated that they’re “not willing to give birth to a baby, and are even a bit scared by it.” What does everyone else think?

黄小娣617:
Watched Come On, Baby; afterwards, I’m too afraid to have a baby of my own, it’s really too painful [goofy face] [goofy face]

Finally: China’s overpopulation problem solved by a show that could be aired on the Discovery Channel, and it isn’t even Mythbusters! However, there’s more to these statements than first meets the eye.

This documentary exposes another side of Chinese culture: the influence of Traditional Chinese Medicine on pregnancy. The mother is a conduit for the unborn baby, and Chinese parents have been known to have overzealous displays of protection towards the fetus, even disabling the internet to an entire building because “WiFi is radioactive“. It is common knowledge in China that a shock from falling into a lake is enough to cause a miscarriage in a pregnant woman, as seen on countless serial dramas.

As such, contrary to practices in Western medicine, drugs are not commonly administered during labor for Chinese mothers for fear that they too may impact the baby. The screams and pained looks of this documentary are of women who are giving birth while bareback, so to speak.

It’s easy to inflate the hype over this controversy when these female commentators seem to be refuting basic human truths, whereas in fact are basically advocating female ideals.

And after all, it did just air on Mother’s Day.

Related:
Guangdong’s New Two-Child Policy Off to a Rocky Start

Photos: Sina blog, CNR via Weibo, Csxww, Mop

The post Shenzhen Documentary “Come On, Baby” Criticized for its “Painful” Childbirth appeared first on The Nanfang.

In an annual tradition, Guangzhou university students celebrate their graduation by dressing up in various costumes. This year, some students decided to dress for success as their ideal job: airline stewardesses.

The Shenzhen Economic Daily reports that Shenzhen real estate prices have cooled over the past three months. The sale of 2,936 new homes in April signified a slight increase from the previous month, but is a 25.5 percent drop from April of last year.

A mother refused to disclose her son’s HIV-positive condition when admitting him for treatment at a Shenzhen hospital out of fear he wouldn’t be treated. The revelation upset the six doctors and nurses that treated the boy for a head wound, yet it’s unclear if given the choice, they would indeed have refused him treatment.

After having brought you the “flip kiss” meme last month (as well as its backlash), we’re continually pleased at how Chinese schoolchildren are working hard to provide us GIFs worthy of attention. Here’s the figure-four leg-lock bed.

The owner of the electric bicycle factory that burned down in a spectacular blaze last week says he is confident he will be able to rebuild his factory again despite having suffered a loss of RMB 10 million.

A Xinjiang barbeque vendor in Dongguan named Ruzi is credited with having stopped two thieves in just half a month.

You know, there’s an app for that: Shenzhen drivers can now pay for parking spaces using their cell phones. Called “Easy to Park” (Yitingche), the app will even help drivers paralell park their cars. The trial program will begin in June.

2,000 Shenzhen families have applied to have another child under the “two-child policy”, perhaps to help fill up the 20 large-scale shopping malls planned to be opened later this year.

The most amazing video you’ll see today: An elderly woman is lying on the street, having trouble getting up when she sees a bus coming towards her. So she does the right thing to do in this case: quickly get up, and then crawl under the bus to simulate having been struck by it. Called the “breaking vase” tactic, this often referred to technique online is seldom documented. Until now.

A fourteen year-old Guizhou girl studying to make clothing had only attended classes for three days before she was kidnapped by a person from her own village and forced into a marriage for two years.

Photo: Dongguan Times

The post PRD Today: University Stewardesses, Schoolchildren GIF, Crawling Under a Bus appeared first on The Nanfang.