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China has stepped up a nationwide campaign to encourage single people to get married, get married and have children as Beijing grapples with a massive population crisis.
Home governments prosecuted married women asking about their plans to have children and offered money to parents to encourage them to have more than one child.
Universities have been asked to introduce so-called love studies for single students, and articles on the benefits of having children appear in the media.
China's population is shrinking, and the the number of people who die than are bornis piling pressure on local governments to address demographic trends.
“in ChinaThe population is facing three main trends: aging, low birth rates and low marriage rates,” noted economist Ren Zeping said in an interview with local media last month. “There are few children and elderly people. The speed and scale of China's aging is unprecedented. “
Beijing has promised to provide subsidies and major tax cuts to parents to reduce the cost of raising children. The State Council, China's cabinet, said in October it was drawing up a plan to build a “regenerative society” as part of a stimulus package to tackle the ailing economy. The details of this plan are still being classified.
Meanwhile, married women in their 20s and 30s across the country have been getting calls from home officials asking about their plans to start a family, according to multiple people who spoke to the Financial Times and posts on social media.
In some cases, the callers ask women to go for a prenatal check-up. Some callers were more specific, offering financial support to women with one child. Couples must have an average of 2.1 children to reach the replacement rate.
A Zhejiang resident who did not want to be identified said officials gave local women Rmb100,000 ($14,000) in support for having a second child. “There is no clear policy, but if you ask for it, the village will find a way to get you a grant,” he said. Currently, child support is set by local governments depending on their financial health.
Personal influence comes against the background of intensified media campaign we recommend the benefits of reproduction. In recent months, the state-run People's Daily and Life Times have promoted scientific claims that childbirth is good for the mother's health and can help prevent cancer and treat certain diseases.
A government-run publication by the National Health Commission in December called on universities to establish “marriage and love courses” to encourage students to get married.
It wrote: “Universities are an important place for college students, citing a survey that found 57 percent of students said they don't want to get into a relationship because of their busy schedule.
The article suggested that universities start courses on the theory of love and the analysis of real situations to promote a “systematic knowledge of love and marriage”.
However, experts doubt that legal measures to boost the birth rate will encourage young people to start families, especially as rising unemployment and continued economic growth have weighed on spending.
Wang Feng, a Chinese demographer at the University of California, Irvine, said officials were referring to the “playbook of using administrative power to achieve population goals” that was evident during the one-child policy, 35 years from 1980. when families were destined to have one child.
While Beijing has successfully stopped couples from having large families, it is difficult to use administrative powers to achieve the opposite effect, he said. Such old wine in a new bottle will not work, as the basic logic of late marriage and low fertility is completely different.
Shen Yang, a feminist writer, said people can “see through propaganda”.
“If the government wants to strengthen the birth rate, it must create a friendly environment for parents, especially single mothers,” he said.
While Beijing is promoting the birth, there are no signs limited access to birth control or abortion. Although there may be some cases of doctors refusing to perform procedures, these often reflect concerns about legal action from family members, said a gynecologist in Beijing.
Still, Wang said the authorities have an uphill battle to ensure that “young women and men today, they are the most educated generation in Chinese history” to have children.
“For young women in particular, they face not only high living costs but also severe career penalties when they leave their jobs to have children.”