New rules to enforce Chinas one-child policy
Rich Beijingers who opt to pay a fine in order to have more than one child in defiance of the one-child policy will face higher charges under new rules, city authorities said this week.
There is much dissatisfaction among lower earners that the wealthy can simply pay the fine to have another child and Deng Xingzhou, director of Beijings family planning commission, said the new rules were aimed at addressing these concerns.
Under the one-child policy, imposed in 1979 to curtail population growth, most families are limited to one child.
At present, couples who have more than one child in Beijing have to pay a social fostering or maintenance fee between three and eight times their annual disposable income. The new rules will increase the amount that high-earning couples have to pay.
Family-planning policy had to be tightened in the capital because Beijings population was growing so strongly, he said. The numbers of migrant workers arriving in the city was also pushing the population higher.
Government forecasters expect Chinas population to peak at about 1,5 billion in 2032. Beijings population of 17 million is growing by about 500.000 a year.
An online survey by the Tencent website showed that nearly 70 per cent of people are angry that celebrities and rich people are having more children.
Many see it as emblematic of the rich-poor divide in China.
There are other measures in place to stop rich people spending their way towards having more children, such as ruling them out of winning national awards, denying them free education and health benefits, or even naming and shaming them in the media.
Kilde: The Push Journal
