Two is one too many in China

As tomorrow is International Children's Day, I thought it appropriate to comment on China's one child policy.

It  has to be one of the more interesting social engineering  policies this country has adopted - the implications of which will be felt for generations to come.


A couple in eastern China's Zhejiang Province who violated the family planning law was recently fined 1.3 million yuan (US$205,000), the biggest such penalty levied by authorities.

The couple gave birth to a daughter in February after having a son in 1995. As the law was written, couples can have a second child under a few conditions such as both spouses being from one child families, or the first child has a non-inherited disease. In some provinces, rural couples are allowed to have a second child if their first child is a girl - hows that for sexual equality.  The couple in question did not qualify under any of these terms. They were wealthy business people who knew the consequences. Local regulations state the fine for having a second child should be four to eight times the average annual income of local residents with family planning authorities having the flexibility set the penalties at their discretion.

Since many of those who do violate the family planning law are rich families, they are given the maximum fines local authorities said. Ruian where this couple lived is in the jurisdiction of Wenzhou, which boasts many wealthy entrepreneurs. Nearly half of Wenzhou's families have two kids, and more than a dozen couples have been fined more than 1 million yuan.

The previous record fine, 1.25 million yuan was just recently imposed in April.

The Chinese government adopted the family-planning policy in 1979 to rein in the growth rate of the world's largest population. The law was enacted because authorities believed China's large population imposed undue pressure on the nation's sustainable development and was a bottleneck for China's competitiveness.

What is already evident is that China now has a gender imbalance. There many more boys born than girls which has created a serious social dilemma - their just aren't enough women around for men to marry - where that goes is anyone's guess?