What's happened
Chinese officials are contacting women to encourage childbirth amid a declining birth rate. Jane Huang, a mother from Fujian, shared her experience of being questioned about her pregnancy plans, highlighting generational differences in attitudes towards family planning. This reflects broader demographic challenges facing China.
Why it matters
What the papers say
According to Maya Oppenheim in The Independent, Jane Huang's experience reflects a broader trend where government officials are reaching out to women to encourage childbirth. Huang noted, 'The surveyor must be from the previous generation,' indicating a disconnect between government messaging and modern societal values. The South China Morning Post elaborates on the government's efforts to understand women's reluctance to have children, emphasizing economic concerns and the legacy of the one-child policy. This highlights the challenges faced by policymakers in adapting to changing demographics and societal expectations.
How we got here
China's birth rate has been declining for decades, exacerbated by the one-child policy implemented in 1979. Despite policy changes allowing up to three children, many women remain reluctant to have more children due to economic and social pressures.
More on these topics
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Fujian is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east.
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China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.4 billion in 2019.
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the second-most populous country, the seventh-largest country by land area, and the most populous democracy in the world.
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England and Wales is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is English law.
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The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
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Xiaohongshu, also known as RED, is a social media and e-commerce platform.
As of July 2019, Xiaohongshu had over 300 million registered users, with 70% of the users born after 1990s, 80% of the users are females.
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The South China Morning Post, with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper founded in 1903. It is Hong Kong's newspaper of record, owned by Alibaba Group. The newspaper was founded by Tse Tsan-tai and A