The Communist Party of China wants to pilot a full liberalization of the fertility policy in the northeast. A Chinese couple is pictured playing with their children in a park in Beijing. (AP)
The official website of the Communist Party’s National health Commission said yesterday (Feb. 18) that the northeast could propose a pilot program to implement a comprehensive fertility policy. But northeastern netizens did not buy this, saying, “Are the experts who mention these policies sick?” “It’s hard to live, how dare you have children?” “Please leave Northeast China alone.”
The official website of the National Health Commission of the Communist Party of China yesterday issued a response to the NPC deputies’ proposal, saying that the Northeast can base on the local reality to explore, research and study the impact of full liberalization of birth restrictions on various aspects such as local economic growth.
In addition, the Northeast is required to do a good job of measuring the population change after the policy adjustment; study the implementation of the full liberalization of fertility policy requires the introduction of supporting documents; assess the social risks of policy changes, etc. on the basis of the pilot program to implement a comprehensive fertility policy in the Northeast.
This news swept through the circle of friends, triggering a lot of discussion. Many northeastern netizens left messages expressing their disagreement with the policy:.
“The strict implementation of Family planning is you, large-scale removal of industry is you, to industrial change to agriculture is you, pressed not to allow industrial upgrading is you, liberalize the northeast birth is also you, together with the northeast can do ‘experiments'”.
“family planning is particularly strict in the northeast strict to the Time my mother was pregnant with two children froze aborted or threatened our family without work and then our generation of northeastern children grew up for this family planning policy had to go south to run for development and money now fertility open again in the northeast to engage in think that the northeast is a wetland what seedlings have to be planted on the black land on a trial basis why the economy can not be more Engage in the northeast people deserve to live a bitter Life?”
“Economic development policy tilted south, northeast people are watching it, do not shout slogans to revitalize the northeast, give some good policy, …… this idea heel think?”
“Should first understand why not to give birth to two children, and then want to let go of the three, four, five, six children thing.”
“No matter how your policy, want to have a birth will be born, do not want to have a birth will not be born. It is very difficult to survive, but still dare to have children?”
“Are the experts who mention these policies sick?”
“Please leave the northeast alone, thank you!”
It is reported that the three northeastern provinces were the first to industrialize and urbanize compared to other provinces, and the northeast also has the highest percentage of state-owned enterprise workers in the population. After the Chinese Communist Party began its family planning policy, which is strictly enforced in the Northeast, the birth rate has been very low. This, coupled with weak economic development and out-migration in recent years, has led to a large population decline in the Northeast.
According to data released by the Communist Party of China for the sixth census in 2010, the net outflow of population from the northeast had reached 1.8 million by that time. From 2014 to 2017, when the separate and comprehensive two-child policies were abolished, 16 of the 22 cities with net population outflow for three consecutive years were located in the northeastern provinces. This may be the reason why the Chinese Communist authorities decided to start a pilot project in the Northeast.
Although the demographic problem in the northeast is the most serious among China’s regions, the situation in other regions is not optimistic either. Not long ago, some local governments released data showing that in fiscal 2020, the number of births in the Wenzhou region was 19.01 percent lower than in the same period in 2019; Hefei city was down about 23 percent year-on-year; and Taizhou city was down 32.6 percent. Liang Jianzhang, founder of China Crip and a professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, wrote that a national population collapse has arrived and that this decline will not bottom out if the fertility rate cannot be significantly boosted.
Earlier this month, the China Fertility Report released by Evergrande Research Institute pointed out that the aging population with fewer children is one of the biggest gray rhinoceroses in China, which will bring a series of significant and far-reaching challenges, and suggested that the 14th Five-Year Plan period should fully liberalize fertility, and if not, the third child should be liberalized first, in any case, it is not advisable to delay for a long time.
Earlier this month, Sanlian Life Weekly published an article saying that the fertility rate of Chinese people used to be over 6, but now it is below 1.5, “Why are Chinese people not willing to have children anymore?” The most important reason is that they can’t afford to have children.
That is to say, “can’t afford to give birth” is not only a problem in the three northeastern provinces, but a widespread problem throughout the country.
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