One Couple, One ChildMothers all over the world describe the births of their children as being among the best, happiest moments of their lives. Parents’ lives are filled with joyful and humorous stories about the everyday events of raising their children. In China, it is different...China's One-Child Policy went into effect in 1980 and permits families to have only one child each. The Chinese One-Child Policy deprives people of their right to bear children and to decide for themselves how many children they want to have. The Chinese people are limited by the law to have only a single child for each married couple. Further, children born to unmarried couples must be placed for adoption under any circumstance. This is the result of millions of Chinese children being abandoned and placed for adoption every year!
The One-Child Policy advocates a “One couple, One child policy.” It encourages late marriages and late, fewer, but healthier babies. The fine for having extra children is known as the “Social Maintenance Fee.” The amount of one’s fine varies from place to place, as well as by income. The rich can shell out millions. A husband and wife in Shanghai will each pay $110,000 yuan ($17,300), three times the city’s average annual post tax income, for a second child. Among upper class families, two or three children have become a status symbol, a sign of wealth and prosperity. There are accounts of heavy sanctions for noncompliance, including the doubling of health insurance and long-term income deductions as well as forced abortions and sterilizations. In the case of the young family, Mr. Yang and his wife refused to pay a fine for their second daughter. The transgression cost Mr. Yang his job as a law professor. In April a sum of 240,300 yuan was taken from his wife’s account. Failure to pay means the second “black” child cannot obtain a household registration document, or hukou, which brings with it basic rights such as education. |
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