One Child Policy Anecdotes.

Last night, a student told me stories about the one child policy.  This student came from a village in Fujian province.  He made me aware of the lengths the authorities have to go enforce the policy and the things that the citizens will do to get around the policy.

To enforce the policy, the government has to use draconian methods.  Officials from all levels have to intrude into lives of women and families.   The head official in a jurisdiction gets the sack if  his birth stats are too high.  Part of a teacher's job is to monitor the female student's health.  Women with second pregnancies are forced to get abortions.  Women can also forcibly be sterilized.  My student, last night , told me of a mandatory six month check-up is done on all women of child-bearing age.  Many of these women will leave school after the ninth grade to support their families.  Many of these women leave their village to find work.   But they are required to come back to their village for this check-up.  If they don't come back for the check-up, a lot of pressure will be put on the woman's family.  Also, huge fines can also be administered in some circumstances.

My student also told me about how the one-child policy has been eased somewhat in the countryside.  Because, there is a prejudice for boys in the countryside resulting in abortion and female infant abandonment, the government allows families with a female child to have a second child in hopes of the child being a boy.

This second baby policy has brought on some strange effects.  If the second baby is a female, a family will try to give the girl to another family.  The family will then try to get a boy by buying or stealing a boy from another family.  Who sells their son?  Someone who is quite poor.  Who wants to have a boy that is not of one's bloodline?  The tradition in the countryside is for the man to look after his parents.  A woman getting married will often not look after her parents.  So, the economic incentive is such that you are better off having an adopted son than keeping a girl of your own blood line.

The student tells me that this child trading is being ameliorated by two factors:  people are changing their thinking somewhat about this, and people can have pregnant woman scanned to abort unwanted female pregnancies.

The Chinese word for younger brother is "didi"; the Chinese word for younger sister is "meimei".  These words  will soon no longer be used in modern China.  And I feel sorry that this is so.  Having a "didi" and a "meimei" myself, I couldn't imagine a life without them.