My daughter asked me a question this morning to which I do not know the answer.
She is aware of China’s “one child” policy and she asked me what happens when women give birth to twins. She’s heard from a “friend of a friend” that the baby girl gets killed in the case of fraternal twins.
I have no idea whatsoever what China’s policy is in respect of identical twins - can someone enlighten us both, please?
Funny you should ask…
Was in China for three weeks in May. Our group visited a local school where a set of twins was pointed out to us. Our guide said that when twins (or other multiples) are born that the restriction is lifted no matter what the sex of the children.
Already answered I see. Yep, birth restrictions are not applied to multiples. Had an employee about 2 years ago give birth to twins. No problem except that she was such a tiny woman. ƒ8ž1 I haven’t heard of fertility drugs in China and people deliberately trying to have multiples.
Actually, the one child policy is not that strict any more. Depends on where you are. Cities are the strictest. Many places it is legal to have a second if the first is a girl. Other places have fines for the second child. Generally speaking, draconian measures come out for the third pregnancy/child.
I have never ever heard of government sponsored infanticide for more than one child. There may or may not be third trimester forced abortions, but never ever to my knowledge is there any reputable report of the government killing the second child after being born. I’ve never even heard rumors of it in China, and I have heard plenty of hair raising stories. Certainly, there are newborns (especially girls) abandoned by the parents.
China may have some nasty policies and enforcement, but this is a horrid made up story and I hope you set your daughter straight.
I just visited China 6 months ago.
Additionally, the one-child policy only applies to the largest ethnic group in China (Hans?) that make up about 90% of the population. If you are part of one of the minority ethnic groups, the policy is either opened up to 2 children, or restrictions are lifted completely, depending upon your ethnic group.
The “word on the street” from the folks I chatted with when I was there was that everyone (including the political leaders) is recognizing China’s serious growing problem with gentrification due to the policy, and that the policy has achieved its intent (China now has a negative net population growth), so everyone expects the restrictions to continue to be reduced in the near future.
Not really germane to the OP, but I read an interesting article about how the first fruits of the one baby policy are being borne as this generation is now reaching marriageable age, but lacks sufficient women to find suitable spouses for tens of thousands of men. This is only expected to grow worse as the gender number gap widens.
Hijack:
Our group went to dinner at a hotel in Wuhan before boarding a boat for a five day Yangtze River cruise. The hotel dining room was filled with American couples and their newly adopted baby girls. It was indeed the happiest place on earth. Got me all choked up…
As a follow-up to Qadgop’s comments, this week’s Time Magazine has a feature on the scariest ramification of the one-child, boys-preferred policy of China. Because of the lack of marriageable women, incestuous weddings are being arranged between close relatives, predominantly cousins. As a result, there are more children being born with genetic problems such as mental deficiency and deafness. A significantly handicapped (female) child was found abandoned in one of the rural provinces and her parents were found to be brother and sister.
Because of the strong familial and patriarchal nature of the society, young women who are a told by their parents that they will marry their male cousins are unlikely to demur.
There are villages with almost no little girls. None. The reporter asked one young boy what he thought he would do when he grew up and was ready to marry and he said that he figured that there must be villages where there were girls. Unfortunately, that’s just not true. This problem is only going to get larger. It’s insane.
This doesn’t necesarily quite compute. Why should cousins represent a pool of marriageable women, if the overall population doesn’t? Unless you’re suggesting that foresight (given government policy) is being, or has been, applied within family groups; allow girls to live in prospect of marrying them off to relatives.
The incestuous part is probably in reference to Gansu province. One of China’s poorest. it is landlocked in the interior of China, and the inscestuous nature of the province was well documented before the one child policy came into existence.
Don’t know how accurate this is, but a quick google came up with http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/papers/herbert.htm : Citing statistics from a Chinese sampling in 1995, Layely noted that among 4-year-olds there are 115 boys for every 100 girls; among 3-year-olds, 119 boys per 100 girls; among 2-year-olds, 121 boys; among 1-year-olds, 121 boys; among children less than a year old, 116 boys per 100 girls.
Based on my experience, the problem is much greater in the countryside than in the city. Also, in the city, doctors are real strict about not telling the sex based on ultrasounds. Of course, it wouldn’t be that difficult to find a “cooperative” doctor.
Again, ancedotal evidence suggests that even in the country side the “value” of girls is starting to increase. Supply and demand. Less brides means more competition and eventually and increased desire for girls.
That said, there are going to be a few decades where this imbalance is and will cause serious social problems.
at the end of the day, IMHO China has not choice but to limit the population. By draconian measures if necessary. By doing nothing or relying on education only, the population growth will still increase and eventually China will run out of resources.
By the way, China’s growth rate is still positive, but now below 1% per annum. That still represents 13 million new mouths to feed every year.
Bonzer–
I think the cousin marriages result from families being unwilling to marry off their young women into other families. Marriageable girls are now a precious commodity, so if your family has one, and you also have a young man in need of a wife, the result is natural. I suppose the same effect could be achieved by either cousin or sister swapping (a common marriage practice in some cultures), but if this isn’t an established tradition it may require a bit more trust and innovation that some people are willing to expend.
[hijack]
As a side note, a population with a few hundred thousand extra males of “fighting” age would seem to have a great advantage in case of a war. Could part of China’s plans be to build a huge army and take over Taiwan or other areas?
MC$E
MC$E, that’s why China’s population is so huge. Mao was the one who vigorously pushed large families in the 1950’s and 1960’s as he expected a nuclear war to take out tens of millions of Chinese. He still wanted a large population that would then still be able to invade Russia.
China has been modernizing it’s army and reducing it’s size. The deal was struck about 5 years ago. The military gets to morph into a modern fighting machine and the money to do so, in return they have to get out of commercial business.