Not Everyone Is Planning A Second Child In China Despite Two-Child Policy

Not everyone in China is happy about the government lifting its one-child policy, a controversial policy lasting 36 years.

China’s new two-child policy may take some time to implement as people may not be ready to have more children yet. Some believe they do not have the financial strength to provide proper upbringing to two children.

"I want to have a second child but I won't," the CNN quoted 33-year-old pharmacist Wendy Zhang as saying. "We both have to work, so no one would have time to take care of our children and our life would be too stressful." Vegetable seller Zhou Juan echoes similar thoughts as the 28-year-old has already spent 80,000 yuan ($12,645) in raising a 3-year-old.

Only one million people have applied for a second child since the ban lifted while the government expected two million people. Experts believe the 36-year-old ban has already left a mark on people psyche.

Some believe China has taken the decision as it is threatened by India’s demography. India, the second-most populous country in the world after China, has its social structure dominated by younger population.

In 1970s, India’s the-then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi tried implementing strict population control. She started a forced sterilization program which is believed to be the brainchild of her son Sanjay Gandhi, according to an UCLA article. However, the program failed miserably as Gandhi’s government lost the election in 1977.

India’s population nearly doubled since 1977 while China managed to control its birthrate significantly. In 1977, China’s yearly growth rate was 1.55 percent, and it is 0.61 percent in 2015. The one-child policy was implemented in 1979.

Retired worker Tian Xiling, had he been allowed, would have had three children. However, that was in the 1980s as he knows his son cannot afford to have a second child today.