A child was born in China. China has banned having more than two children. What happens if a Chinese family gives birth to triplets illegally? How does the state suppress childbearing within the framework of the law? The problem of finding a spouse for young Chinese
The "Planning Policy" has been in effect in China since 1980. According to the law, the Chinese government "encourages its citizens to marry and have children later and encourages one married couple to have one child. By law, permission to have a second child can be requested. Specific regulations are agreed upon by individual provinces "Representatives of small nationalities are also encouraged to pursue a fertility policy."
That is, today in China there is still a one-child policy, although it is no longer as strict as before. It is important to understand that each province itself established rules for allowing a second or third child, which differed from province to province and sometimes from one region to another. Once I was in a small city of over a million people in Guangdong, where almost all parents had two children. To my question they answered that “no one has really looked at this for a long time.”
At the same time, no fundamental difference between the second or third or fourth child, since having many children is not “prohibited” but only “not encouraged”. In practice, this means that if, for example, a family received more than two children, then officials will most likely increase fines and / or increase social pressure, that is, not only on parents but also on their family, colleagues, and environment.
The most common exceptions for representatives of nationalities. minorities (for example, the one-child policy practically did not affect the Tibetans), although not for everyone. In many provinces it was possible to have two children if both parents had no siblings. Village residents usually had the right to a second child if the first birth was a girl. It was also possible to get a second child if the first one was born disabled or died early.
Fines also vary greatly depending on where the parents live and their income. If a second (or third) child is born without permission, the parents are usually required to pay a “social tax for raising the child,” often one or two times each parent’s annual income. For 2012, for the city of Beijing, I found the following figures: 18,000 euros for a pair of warehouse workers and 29,000 euros for a university assistant professor and office employee. Although the Beijing figures are definitely above average, it is clear that the amounts are not small. The second method of putting pressure on civil servants in institutions, schools, hospitals or companies (and this is a very large percentage, especially in the 80s and 90s, but even now), where an “extra” child means a stop in career growth, loss of bonuses or vacations, and even dismissal. Officially, such an employee is considered not responsible enough to, for example, teach children or lead subordinates.
If the fine is not paid, then officials refuse to register the child ("hukou"). That is, the child grows up illegally, without documents, with all the ensuing consequences: problems starting with admission to school or university, medical insurance, work, etc. In the city, parents usually try to accumulate the amount of the fine and “legalize” the child at a later age, often at 14 or 15 years old.
In villages, the problem of legalization is not so acute, because registration does not provide special social security (there are either none at all or they are not valued due to low quality, and they are usually easier to bypass). Therefore, it was in the villages that bureaucratic arbitrariness with forced abortions, sterilizations and other horrors occurred much more often.
The policy had little impact on the rich, because they could afford to pay even high fines or give birth abroad (“maternity tourism” is a particular problem in relations with Hong Kong). Although director Zhang Yimou was fined as much as 1 million-odd dollars a couple of years ago when it was discovered that he had three children, this is rather an exception.
Since 2013, the policy has been relaxed significantly, with most of China now allowing two children, even if only one parent is a single child. In 2015, the first plans appeared for a general permit for two children for everyone, but no official decisions have been made on this matter yet, so the question is not posed entirely correctly.
Since, despite the relaxation, in last years Since there has been no significant increase in the birth rate, it should be expected that planning policies will continue to be liberalized.
A baby has been born in China four years after his parents died in a car accident. Shortly before the fatal car accident in 2013, a man and woman froze several embryos in the hope of conceiving a child through artificial insemination. After the car accident, the parents of the deceased couple fought for a long time in the courts for permission to use the embryos.
The embryos of the deceased couple were stored in a hospital in the Chinese city of Nanjing, frozen at a temperature of minus 196 degrees in a container with liquid nitrogen. After lengthy legal proceedings, the court transferred the rights to use them to the four parents of the deceased couple. According to media reports, there have been no previous cases in China of parents inheriting frozen embryos from their children.
But the trials of future grandparents did not end there. Embryos could only be removed from a Nanjing hospital if another hospital accepted them. However, due to the legal ambiguity surrounding embryos in China, it was difficult to find another medical institution willing to participate.
Express information on the country
China(People's Republic of China) is a state in East Asia.
Capital- Beijing
Largest cities: Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Form of government- Parliamentary republic
Territory– 9,596,960 km 2 (3rd in the world)
Population– 1.375 billion people. (1st in the world)
Official language- Chinese
HDI– 0.727 (90th in the world)
GDP– $10.35 trillion (2nd in the world)
Currency– yuan
Borders with: North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam
In addition, surrogacy is prohibited in China. Relatives had to transfer the embryos abroad - this was the only way to solve the problem. As a result, the parents of the deceased couple decided to use the services of a surrogacy agency in Laos, where it is legal. But even here a problem arose - not a single airline agreed to accept a thermos with liquid nitrogen on board. The priceless cargo had to be transported by car.
In Laos, embryos were implanted into the uterus of a surrogate mother, and a boy was born in December 2017. They named him Tiantian.
Tiantian was not born in Laos, but in China, where he surrogate mother I came on a simple tourist visa. Since none of the boy's parents were alive, all four of the child's grandparents had to take a DNA test to prove that the child was their grandson and that both of his parents were Chinese, making the child a Chinese citizen.
China is one of the most populous countries in the world. This has happened historically. Many families in this country have many children. Although China's territory is large, it has an abundance of people. Because of this, the country's authorities decided to influence the demographic situation by issuing the decree "One family - one child."
Features of this decree
This policy was introduced in the country in the 70s of the last century. It is due to the fact that at that time there were many in China. Because of this, the country's economy and the standard of living of the population declined. There was nowhere to settle large families- they simply did not have enough square meters to live. As a result, such families demanded state care for them, benefits, and so on. Therefore, for families where only one child was born, all the best that the state could give at that time was provided. And for those who, for any reason, had more children, the fine ranged from 4 to 8 average annual incomes of the region where the family lived. Parents literally ransomed their children.
"One family - one child" - a policy in China - pursued the goal of reducing the population to 1.2 billion people by the year 2000. Administrative measures were introduced, contraception was actively promoted, and abortion became popular. But why did China become so populated?
Historical prerequisites for large families in China
China has been famous for its large population since the times of the samurai. They were actively involved in land development, while their wives looked after family life and gave birth to children. This tradition began to actively continue after the Second World War. At this time, the country's authorities saw that many people had died in the world, it was necessary to raise the economic level of development in their state, and they set out to have many children. The birth of 3-4 children in a family was actively encouraged.
When the population began to grow at a rapid pace, attempts were made to slow down this rate and various restrictions were introduced for families. But the most extreme measure of influence on the demographic situation in the country was the “One family - one child” policy in China. It was officially adopted in 1979.
Features of population registration in China
This policy already at that time had its pitfalls and shortcomings. Everything is connected with the peculiarities of counting the population and the attitude towards female. In China, there is no registration of children born, and records are kept only of the number of people who died in the family in 1 year. This approach does not satisfy the request for the exact number of population in the country, so it is more than statistical data.
The “One family - one child” policy immediately ran into problems at the gender level. This country does not have the same attitude towards women as in Europe. Women there are an order of magnitude lower than men in status and rights. Therefore, when a girl was the first to appear in the family, parents clandestinely sought permission to have a second child. It turned out that the authorities decided who should give birth a second time and who should not.
How are children connected to the country's economy?
As a result of the “One family - one child” policy, the authorities have achieved some positive developments. The age composition of the Chinese has changed, and the approach to financing families has also changed somewhat. The state spends much less money on one child than on three or five. As a result, the issue of increasing wages, thereby maintaining cheap labor while increasing the working capacity of the population. In addition, women, freed from the responsibility of looking after small children, could go to work earlier, which also had a beneficial effect on the economic growth of the state. In addition, the authorities did not have to think about how to feed and educate the second and subsequent children.
All this is good, and there was even an ideal period for the country, when there were few children and still few old people. But the policy “One family - one child” (China) has already shown its own consequences over time. downsides. Problems arose that were not immediately calculated.
Excess of elderly Chinese
When there was a period of low numbers of elderly Chinese, no one thought about what would happen next, and the authorities were happy with the “One Family, One Child” policy. Problems began closer to the 2010s: the population was redistributed, and there were an order of magnitude more elderly people. They now needed to be looked after, but there was no one to do it. actively working, but there are few young people.
The country also turned out to be unprepared for a pension policy in which the state assumes responsibility for maintaining the elderly. Therefore, even at 70 years old, many Chinese were forced to work to earn a living.
The problem of lonely elderly people has emerged. An additional burden has arisen on social services to screen these people. It turned out that in one household there was sometimes only one person left who could no longer cope with the physical load.
The problem of children's egoism in connection with such government policies
The second pitfall of the “One family - one child” policy was children. On the one hand, the opportunity to properly raise one child and give him everything he needs is much greater than providing all this for seven. But many noticed that the children had become too selfish. There was even an example when a mother became pregnant with her second child, and the first teenage girl set a condition for her: either the mother has an abortion, or the girl commits suicide. This was due to a selfish desire to receive all the attention from their parents and not share it with anyone else.
The problem of selective abortions
Considering the Chinese attitude towards women, as well as the restrictions on the number of children in a family, it is not surprising that parents wanted to have a boy. But you can’t predict gender, so many began to look for an opportunity to determine as early as possible who they would have in order to free themselves from an unwanted girl.
Illegal ultrasound services have appeared to determine the sex of the fetus, although this is prohibited by law. The “one family, one child” policy in China has led to selective abortions, which have become commonplace among Chinese women.
The problem of finding a spouse for young Chinese
As a result, after the widespread birth of boys, the number of girls in the country has decreased significantly. At first they didn’t see any problem in this either. It is much better to have a boy in the family, who will later become the breadwinner. The policy even in some circles changed its name: “One family - one child with higher education.” The parents were proud of the opportunity to give their son a quality education, since they had the opportunity to teach him.
But the years go by, there are fewer and fewer girls in the country, there are many guys, and another problem has arisen - finding a spouse or just a couple. In China, homosexuality began to flourish on this basis. The reasons for this, for the most part, lay precisely in the excess male population. Some statistics show that young people who practice same-sex relationships are willing to enter into traditional marriage if given the opportunity. On this moment The male population outnumbers the female population by as much as 20 million people.
Childbirth in Hong Kong. Excess of women in labor
The policy, which allows for no more than one child per family, determines quotas for the birth of a baby. Therefore, most Chinese women who decided to have a second child were forced to travel to another territory for childbirth - to Hong Kong. The laws there are less strict, and no one has introduced any quotas. But the problem arose in the smallest state. After all, the number of Chinese women is large, and the capacity of maternity hospitals is designed for officially registered As a result, not all local residents had the opportunity to give birth to children in comfortable conditions - there were constantly not enough places in hospitals. The authorities of both countries began to fight “mother tourism”.
The future of the country with this policy
The policy of raising only one child in China has led to the emergence of a new unofficial holiday for the population - Twins Day. The birth of twins was considered a big event for the family, as it gave them the right to raise their two children. No matter how hard the authorities try to prevent this, you cannot go against nature. When future parents found out that they would have twins, their happiness knew no bounds - this freed them from the fine for a second child and increased the family by as many as two small miracles. The country began to organize twin festivals on this occasion.
But this law does not apply to small populations that do not exceed 100 thousand people for the population of all of China. These people are also lucky - they have the right to give birth to as many children as they want.
Analyzing all the problems and pitfalls of the law on one child per family adopted in the late 70s of the twentieth century, the Chinese authorities came to the conclusion that it was necessary to somehow soften its wording and give the population the opportunity to give birth to more than just one child. As a result, the "One Family, One Child" policy in China has been abolished. This happened in October 2015.
The country's leadership approved new law on allowing families to have two children. According to their forecasts, this will solve the problem with selective abortions, there will be no such pursuit of boys in families, and many will allow themselves to raise girls as well. In addition, there will not be such a sharp reduction in the young population, and two young children will replace two old parents. In addition, not all Chinese women can have children, and some will remain with one child. Therefore, the demographic situation will not change significantly with the adoption of the new law.
"One family - one child": cancellation of the policy
Of course, there are rumors about the cruelty of the Chinese authorities towards childbirth. The population of this country breathed a little easier when, on January 1, 2016, the policy of one child per family was finally abolished. But what dictates this? Increased concern for the moral component of the population. The thing is that this law, which has been in force for about 35 years, has become strongly contrary to the economic interests of the country. That is why the “One family - one child” policy has been abolished. What does this give to the country and young parents?
Some are wary of the repeal because they entertain the idea of a baby boom. But there is no need to be afraid of a sharp change in the demographic situation. The fact is that in recent years (since 2013) the policy has already been relaxed - it was allowed to have two children in families where at least one of the spouses grew up alone in the family. Thus, the Chinese were gradually prepared to reverse the policy.
For young families, cancellation is a mouthful. fresh air. After all, at the legislative level they were allowed to raise not “little emperors” - selfish children, but two full-fledged members of society who know how to be in a team.
May 25, 2017 - ChinaPk
After the birth of your child, you will usually need to fill out a citizenship selection form, which is a birth certificate.
If you choose foreign citizenship, you will need to fill out a birth certificate issued by the hospital, indicating your name and citizenship.
Then it is important to check with your state consulate about the procedure for obtaining a passport.
A birth certificate is a prerequisite for a child to obtain a passport.
Typically, notarization and/or translation of your birth certificate is required by an official of the country for which you are applying for citizenship. If you decide to move to your/your child's country of citizenship, the birth certificate can be changed, although notarization will likely be required from a Chinese official.
In Beijing, Shanghai and some second-tier cities, foreign children are allowed to attend public schools.
University
Foreign children are not restricted from applying to universities, and a prerequisite is often a foreign passport and HSK (basic level test). Chinese language). In fact, it is easier to get into university in China as a foreign citizen, as the entrance exam for Chinese is notoriously difficult.
Medical insurance
Regarding health insurance, children without a hukou are not allowed health insurance for urban residents. However, this insurance is not an all-encompassing panacea; private insurance is often a smarter choice.
Attention!
China does NOT recognize dual or multiple citizenship, which means that if you choose Chinese citizenship, you must renounce the foreign one, or if you choose foreign citizenship, you must renounce the Chinese one.
Although not recognized in China, some foreign governments allow their citizens to hold dual citizenship.
The USA can serve as an example. A child with American citizenship may renounce his or her original citizenship to Chinese government officials in favor of becoming Chinese, thus gaining full citizenship in China. However, since the American government does not recognize this as an official waiver, the children will still be American citizens under American law. Therefore, according to the US government, the child will have dual citizenship, although this will not be recognized by the Chinese government.
A child must be over 18 years old to officially renounce their citizenship; if a parent renounces citizenship for a child, they can reverse the decision when they turn 18.
Choosing Chinese citizenship
If a child was born in China to a mixed couple, the child can apply for Chinese citizenship.
According to the Nationality Law, a person can acquire Chinese nationality by birth in China if he meets the following requirement:
At least one of his parents is a Chinese national (Article 4).
After you receive the child's birth certificate, the Chinese parent must go to the local housing and communal services office to apply for a hukou for your child, this will require three documents,
Child's birth certificate
Hukou of Chinese parent
Marriage certificate
Benefits of Chinese Citizenship
The benefits are the same as for a child born into a Chinese family. Chinese citizenship provides individual access to a registered permanent residence permit or hukou.
Hukou is very important to the Chinese. This is the official registration of residence. Hukou can guarantee the following advantages
Greater choice of work;
Buying real estate in China;
Public School Admissions;
Health insurance.
