Heated discussion over loosening of one-child policy (2)

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"Liujing__2009" said,"I am hesitant. If I have a second child I will have to be a full-time mother. Two children will require much more energy to take care of them. My husband doesn't want a second baby, he thinks taking care of one is exhausting enough."

Discussion of second babies or not has already led to fights. Wei is a doctor at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

"Both sides of the parents want us to have another baby, but my wife and I are doctors. We are too tired to have another child," Wei said.

EXPERTS' OPINION

Regarding people's concern over a baby boom, population expert Zhang Yuanzhen said, "the new policy will have a large impact on individual families, but not on the whole country."

There will not be a baby boom and it will not bring huge pressure to bear on food security, health, education or employment, said Zhang.

According to a survey by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the new policy will apply to roughly 15 to 20 million people, only half of whom are actually willing to have a second child.

Also, due to the decades long family planning policy, families which have only one child in rural areas are far fewer than in those in cities. Thus the new policy will apply mainly to couples in the city. With the cost of raising a child in a city relatively high, people will think it through before they make a decision, said Zhang.

The new policy is seen by some as unfair. "Xiaoyuer" said, "everyone should be able to have a second child regardless of whether he or she is the only child or not. The new policy sounds encouraging at first but later on people feel it is unfair."

Liu Junjie, a population expert at Henan Academy of Social Sciences, said that China is unlikely to completely loosen its one-child policy soon.

"People's thoughts are understandable, but the adjustment of population structure should be gradual," Liu said.

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