Legacy Of One Child Policy Could Hinder China's Efforts To Lift Birth Rate

 Legacy of One Child Policy Could Hinder China's Efforts to Lift Birth Rate

Being pregnant with a healthy baby boy at the age of 23 in 1994, Zhao Xiangzhi became very worried about whether she would be allowed to give birth to her first child.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2018) Being pregnant with a healthy baby boy at the age of 23 in 1994, Zhao Xiangzhi became very worried about whether she would be allowed to give birth to her first child. Working as a political science teacher in a local high school and being a member of the Communist Party of China, she was supposed to follow the government's call for "late marriage and late child birth."

"For someone working in the public sector who has to comply with the 'late birth' call, the minimum age allowed to give birth was 24 years old. I was one year short. I had to look for some connections to get birth permit. Without the birth permit, I would be forced to do an abortion, which was very common at the time," Zhao said.

After Chinese authorities introduced family planning regulations, widely known as the One Child Policy, in the late 1970s, pregnant women in China would only be allowed to give birth after receiving approval from the government and being issued a birth permit. Fortunately for Zhao, she was able to obtain such a permit in time and gave birth to her only child.

Facing a rapidly aging population, a shrinking work force and challenges of fulfilling future social security coverage, Chinese authorities started to relax child birth restrictions in recent years. After starting to allow all Chinese families to have two children in 2015, the Chinese government reportedly is preparing to scrap the nation's controversial family planning policies completely in the near future, as part of the efforts to address the growing demographic crisis.

Being part of the generation in China who had to comply with the One Child Policy strictly, Zhao, 47, wished the restrictions were lifted 10-15 years earlier, as she started to feel the impact of having only one child, after her only son left her hometown of Shaoshan in central China's Hunan province to work in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou three years ago.

"After my son was born, I never thought about having a second child, because the idea of having only one child had already been deeply rooted into our brains. But if the birth control restrictions were lifted when I was in my 30s, I would definitely try to have a second child, probably a daughter. That's because having two children can help ease the burden my only child faces, when I may need care from him when I get older," Zhao said.

Demographic experts pointed out that Chinese authorities should have realized the negative social consequences of the One Child Policy sooner and lifted the restrictions earlier.

"In fact, China's domestic birth rate started to fall behind the economic development level by 1991. The authorities should have abolished the birth control policies back then. If they did at the time, it would not only benefit ordinary citizens, but also allow China's elites include the current First Lady Peng Liyuan, who was born in the 1960s, to have a chance to have a second child. Today, the changes are happening too late," Yi Fuxian, an expert in demographics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Sputnik.

After her son moved to work in a city located 450 miles away, Zhao felt a sense of loss in the beginning.

"When he first left, I was very worried about whether he could adjust to the new environment. When it's dinner time, I would always start to worry if he had a good meal or not. Before going to bed every night, I would always think about if he knows not to go to sleep too late. But I tried to control myself and avoided calling him every day. I just spoke with him about once a week," she said.

The mother joked that her son would probably be annoyed if she tried to call him every day, because sons probably do not like to talk to their mothers as often as daughters do.

"I would still try to visit him whenever I had vacation in the winter or in the summer. After spending a month with him in the summer, I always felt the time went by so fast," she said.

As an only child who moved 1400 miles away from her parents to attend university in Beijing eighteen years ago, Zheng Shanshan became more and more concerned about not being able to take care of her parents as they get older.

"As an only child, you can't rely on any sibling for help [to take care of your parents]. My goal is very clear. If my parents become sick and need help, I'll be the only person they can rely on. If I had siblings, maybe I could have some assistance. But now, I have no other choices, but to take all the responsibilities on my own," she said.

Zheng, 37, gave birth to her daughter in 2012 and her parents started to live with her for several months a year to help take care of her daughter.

"When my parents live with me, even if they help me take care of my child and do some housework, I can be sure they live a healthy lifestyle. When they're not with me, they sometimes stay up late at night to play games. If they're sick, I also can't help them at once," she said.

Because of skyrocketing property prices in Beijing, Zheng believes it is unlikely for her parents to move to the Chinese capital in the future.

As for Zhao, whose 24-year-old son works as a police officer in Guangzhou today, she plans to move to a city closer to her son after she retires, as property purchase restrictions make it impossible for her to buy an apartment in the same city where her son works.

"I just hope that the property prices in cities around Guangzhou will not rise sharply. After I retire, I still hope to buy a small apartment in a city closer to my son. At least, in this way, I could visit him more often or meet him on weekends, when we have a chance. I will not like it, if I can't see my son for a long time after retirement. I want to shorten the distance with him," she said.

The high school teacher from Hunan province admitted that it will be difficult for her to accept the future prospects of moving into a nursing home, when she needs help after retirement.

"As I only have one child, I never would expect financial assistance from my son after retirement, as our pensions would be enough for me and my husband. But the problem is, if my son lives far away, once I get older and can't move freely, it'll be difficult for him to hop on a train and come back to help me. Many of my friends always joked that if you need assistance, just move into a nursing home for old people. To be honest, I would never want to move into a nursing home. But I can't tell this to my son," Zhao said.

Zhao explained that she visited some nursing homes on several occasions for work related events. The conditions and the experiences of those elderlies who need assistance on a daily basis are not something she would want to endure personally in the future.

Based on experiences from other developed countries, the responsibility of caring for the elderlies usually have to fall onto the shoulders of family member, instead of relying on public services such as nursing homes, demographics experts suggested.

"Even in countries like the United States, where the social security service is more developed, only about 20% of the elderlies in the country stay in nursing homes, while the rest 80 percent still rely on family members for care. If you can't rely on your children, can you rely on social services to care about you at an older age? The key to supporting the elderlies is still family members. It's impossible for nursing homes to provide the same kind of care a family member can offer," said Professor Yi from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The expert estimates about 30 percent of the overall Chinese population will be senior citizens older than 65 by 2050, when demographic crisis in China will become much more serious.

Yang Linjie, a retired accountant from Central China's Henan province, moved to Shenzhen in South China in late 2013, as soon as she learned that her daughter, an only child, became pregnant. Yang's move came after spending the previous 2-3 years in her hometown taking care of her father who passed away at the age of 97 earlier that year.

"When my daughter became pregnant, I wanted to come and help her as soon as I could. She had morning sickness symptoms from the beginning of her pregnancy. I wanted to cook food for her, because she enjoys eating my dishes," she said.

Today, Yang has been living with her daughter's family for over 4 years and handling most of the responsibility of caring for her granddaughter, including cooking, cleaning and taking the little girl to piano lessons.

"I'm a very optimistic person. I never felt I'm too tired or has worked too hard [for my daughter]. I simply enjoy taking my granddaughter to bookstores and read stories to her," she said.

The 57-year-old grandmother plans to move to Shenzhen permanently to live with her daughter's family, after her husband retires in a few years.

"My daughter's work is really busy. She may still need my help even when my granddaughter grows older. If my daughter is capable of taking care of herself and my granddaughter, I can leave them and move back home. But now she needs my help, because of the pressure she faces from work," Yang said.

Similar to others in the generation who grew up as an only child, Zhang Min, Yang's daughter, admitted that she lacks the basic skills such as cooking in daily life, because of the attention and care her parents offered.

"I basically can't even take care of myself. Because of my busy schedule at work, I also don't have time to cook or do housework. That's why my friends sometimes envy me, who can enjoy such strong support from my mother," Zhang said.

Zhang said that she would prefer to strike a balance between work and family life. But the rising cost of raising a child forced her to focus on making money, as her current salary can barely cover the $1000 she spends every month on her daughter's piano and dance classes.

Despite the fact that her mother took over most of the responsibility of caring for her daughter, Zhang has no interest in having a second child.

"To consider having a second child, you first need to have the financial resources. At the same time, growing up as an only child, I can't imagine having a second child, because I'll focus most of my attention on my younger child, which would be unfair to my older child. When you have two children, you would definitely have a preference between the two. I feel it's unnecessary to divide my attention. It's better to focus all my resources and attention on my daughter," she said.

Professor Yi from the University of Wisconsin-Madison argued that having a second child could help ease the burden an only child faces in terms of taking care of the parents at an older age.

"When you have a second child, it doesn't mean you're taking away your love from your first child. It's actually offering assistance to your first child in the future. That's because your first child will face much less pressure to take care of you when you get older," he said.

To support her son, who is still not married, to have the confidence of having more than one child in the future, Zhao, the high school teacher from Hunan province, plans to offer half of the pensions her husband and her receive to help cover the education cost for her grandchildren in the future.

"I always believe that our children did not choose to be brought to this world. It's our decision to bring them into this world. So it's the parents' responsibility to ensure their happiness. My husband and I will try our best to stay healthy and be ready to help our son to take care of our grandchildren, while offering financial assistance we can afford," she said.

Zhao argued that the decision on how many children young couples want to have is not a matter of "being patriotic" contrary to what the government says.

"It's about how to pursue a happy life, despite of all the difficulties and pressure in life. If the young couple's quality of life will suffer after having a second child, why do they need to do that?" she said.

As part of the government's efforts to encourage young couples to have more children to resolve the nation's looming demographic crisis, Chinese state press started to publish editorials stressing that the number of children a couple wants to have has become not only a family matter, but also a "national issue."