China Grants Benefits to Rural One-child Families

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 21, 2003

China Grants Benefits to Rural One-child Families

Wang Shunmei was happy and surprised to receive a bonus and pension insurance from the local government in Luquan City in north China's Hebei Province.

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Wang Shunmei was happy and surprised to receive a bonus and pension insurance from the local government in Luquan City in north China's Hebei Province.

Wang, 48 years old, was one of the beneficiaries of China's preferential policies to provide rural one-child families with bonuses, pension insurance, tuition reduction and preferential medical services.

"The benefits encourage families to stick to the family planning policy, especially after weighing the burden of raising more children these days," said Dr. Mu Guangzong, with the research center on population and development in the People's University of China.

Similar policies have been carried out in rural areas across the country.

China's law on population and family planning enacted last September required governments at various levels to offer help to one-child families, providing preferential treatment in areas like finance, insurance, medical services, education and employment.

Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed it was an imperative task to provide social security for one-child families at a symposium held this March on population and environment.

China has approximately 80 to 100 million single-child families, of which over 100,000 had lost their only child to accident or other cause of death.

The State Family Planning Commission is considering setting up a fund to help families suffering from difficulties like deformity and illness, which affect about 0.8 percent of the one-child families.

As the most populous country, China has been encouraging family planning for more than 30 years.

"Family planning is still basic national policy, but the government now is shifting attention from population reduction to social security for one-child families and the harmonious development of population, resources and environment," said Mu Zhikun, a professor on population and society in the People's University of China.

The practice in Wang's hometown has paid off. Since early July, over 200 couples have registered to have only one child, thirteen times the figure in the same period of last year.

"We have already realized there is no good in having too many children. We can afford to build a house for one child, but it's impossible if we have one more," said Zhao Yingui, a villager in Pingbei Village in Luquan city.

"Less people now stick to the ideology that more children can carry on the ancestral line. Besides, the cost of raising a child has been rocketing," Zhao said.

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