China Launches 'New-Era' Marriage and Childbearing Initiatives

Facts

• China’s Family Planning Association, the state body for fertility and population measures, has announced it will pilot a project in more than 20 cities to create a “new era” of family and childbearing culture.¹
• According to the Global Times, the pilot was to be launched in tandem with the celebration of the International Day of Families on Monday. China has experienced falling birth and marriage rates since 2017.²
• The Global Times revealed details shared at an event held in the city of Guangzhou on Thursday. Measures of the pilot will include encouraging marriage and childbearing at appropriate ages as well as attempting to curb the high prices of marriage and family life.³
• China maintained a one-child policy from 1980-2015, with China’s population decreasing for the first time in 60 years by 850K according to the National Bureau of Statistics. China has also been overtaken by India as the world’s most populous country.⁴
• China has already begun to roll out a series of new laws to tackle this decline, including tax incentives as well as subsidies for housing and having a third child.⁵
• Having initiated the program in 20 cities last year, including Beijing, the extension will now include Guangzhou as well as the city of Handan in the Hebei province.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Wio News, ³Global Times, ⁴NPR Online News, ⁵News18, and ⁶Global Village Space.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. While India has slowly and steadily grown its population, China is now facing a population crisis having realised its extreme childbirth policies of the past have failed. Now facing an aging population, the country must take lessons from the past and urgently look towards innovative ways to sustain growth and look after an elderly society.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. The move is a proactive attempt to reverse the changing perception of younger Chinese generations against the idea of family. Through extending attempts to generate a family-friendly societal atmosphere, the pilot will show China’s youth the possibility to have a healthy equilibrium between family, marriage, career, studies, and general life.

Predictions