Does it matter when the restaurant opens if you can't afford a meal?
Originally published on Global Voices
Image from the Stand News. Used with permission.
If people won't have two children, will they consider having three?
China has decided to relax its two-child policy to a three-child policy after the country saw a steep decline in the birth rate in the 2020 census. The move has been greeted by a wave of ironic commentary on social media platforms.
China's controversial โone-child policyโ was enforced from 1980 but was eased in 2015 as the government anticipated problems supporting an ageing population.
While the shift to a two-child policy initially lifted the number of births from 16.55 million in 2015 to 17.86 million in 2016, this trend was not sustained.
Since then, Chinaโs birth rate has declined. In 2020, just 12 million babies were born.
The decision to introduce a new third-child policy was made on May 31 at Chinaโs Politburo Committee, overseen by President Xi Jinping. It was presented to the public in lieu of Childrenโs Day on June 1.
The policy was introduced with a package of supporting measures โ restrictions on marriage dowries, protections for women's employment rights, maternity leave improvements and insurance, taxation and housing benefits.
Nevertheless, a poll posted by state-owned Xinhua News on Weibo, saw 90 percent of respondents indicate that they would not consider having a third child:
Screen capture of Xinhua's deleted poll
The now-deleted poll attracted more than 2,000,000 responses.
Many asked the question: is the state going to pay child-rearing expenses?
Public sentiment was summed up in @littlecrazycaโs comment on Twitter:
ไธๆฉ่ตทๆฅ๏ผ็ๅฐไธๅญฉๆฟ็ญ็ๆถๆฏๆปกๅฑ้ฃใๅฐฑๅจๆณ๏ผๅ จไธ็ๆฒกๆๅชไธไธชๅฝๅฎถ๏ผๅๆไธๅบ๏ผๅ ๅๅนดๅจๅฅณไบบ็ๅญๅฎซๅฃๅผไผ๏ผ่ฏดๅผๅฐฑๅผ๏ผ่ฏด้ญๅฐฑ้ญใๆพ็ปๆฏ้ผ็ๅ็ป่ฒ๏ผ็่ณ็ฝๆฌพๅไฝๅผ้คไปไน็๏ผ็ฐๅจๅ่ฎฉไฝ ็ไปจ๏ผ็ฎ็ดไบ๏ผไปฅๅ็็ฝๆฌพๆฏไธๆฏ็ปไบบๅฎถ้ไบ๏ผ่ฏฅๆขๅคไปไน้ฝ็ปไบบๆขๅคไบๅข๏ผ
โ ่ฅฟๅฐ็ฏ
(@littlecrazyca) May 31, 2021
My mobile phone screen is flooded with news about the third child policy this morning. I donโt think anywhere else in this world can order a woman's uterus to function through decades of policy meetings rather than incentives. In the past, women were forced to sterilize or they would have to pay a fine and be dismissed by their work unit. Now they want you to raise three [children]! Are you going to reimburse them or give them back their jobs now?
As serious online criticism of state policy can be censored or even punished, dark humor reigned.
Some speculated on the burden that three children would place on couples from the single-child generation born in the 1980s and 1990s, who have no siblings to help them look after their parents.
ๅๅๅๅๅ๏ผ80๏น90ๅพ๏ผ็จ็ๅญๅฅณ้ๅ ฉไปฃไบบ๏ผไธๅฐๅคซๅฆป้ค4ๅ่ไบบ๏ผๅๆๆฏ3ๅญฉๅญใ็ถๅพๅนนๅฐ65ๆญฒ๏ผ้ๆฒ้ ไธ้ไผ้๏ผๅฐฑๆไบโฆ
Hahahaha, for the single-child generations who were born in the 1980s and 1990s, a married-couple would have to feed 4 elderly parents and 3 kids. They would have to work until 65. By the time they could get their pensions, they would be deadโฆ
Other netizens called such a life model โthe life of garlic chivesโ, in reference to a popular online meme depicting ordinary Chinese as exploited by a political and economic system premised on rent-seeking.
One viral post on Weibo that this author republished on Twitter mocked: โI wish you a long life so that you have to take care of nine grandchildren at the age of 65.โ
โ oiwan (@oiwan) June 1, 2021
The policyโs socioeconomic implications for women also earned a lot of attention.
ๅๅฎถๆๅก็ไธ่
้ซ้ขๅๆๅก้ ็ขๅๆฏไนณๅ้ค
ๅฐๅฎถๅปบ่ญฐๅญฉๅญไธ่ฆ่ฎ่ๅนดไบบๅธถ
ๅญฉๅญๆธดๆๅชฝๅชฝ้จๆ้ชไผด
่ๅ ฌๅๅธๆๅชณๅฉฆ่ฒ็พๅฅณ่ฑไน่ฝ่ณบ้ข้คๅฎถ
ๅ ฌๅฉๅธๆๅ ๅชณๅฉฆ็ ง้กงๅฅฝ่ๅ ฌๆ่ฒๅฅฝๅญฉๅญ
็คพๆๅๆๅกๅฅณไบบ่ฆ็ถๆฟ็จ็ซ
ไธๅๅฅณไบบ๏ผ็ซ่ฆๅฅนๆดปๆๅ่ป่ฌ้ฆฌโฆ
The state advocates for three children
The hospitals suggest natural labour and breastfeeding
Experts advise that elderly people should not take care of kids
Kids want their mother to be available all the time
Husbands expect wives to keep looking pretty and shoulder the family burden
Parents-in-law expect their daughters-in-law to take care of their husbands and educate their grandchildren
Society encourages women to have economic independence
A woman is like a solider in a battlefield โฆ
#ไธๅญฉ็่ฒๆฟ็ญๆฅไบ#ไธ่ๅฟ ็ถๆทฑๅๅฅณๆง่ๅบๆญง่ง๏ผ่ฏๆณไธไธไธชไผไธไผๆๆๅฅณ็ๆพไธๆฌกไบงๅไน๏ผ่ฝ็ถๆฟๆ็ไธ่็ๆฏๅฐๆฐ๏ผไฝๅๆญง่ง็ๅฐไผๆฏๆดไธชๅฅณๆง็พคไฝใ่ฆไนๅฐฑ็ท็้ชไบงๅๅๅฅณๆง็ญ้ฟ๏ผไธ็ถๅฅณๆงไธ่ๅฆไฝ่งฃๅณ่ๅบๆญง่ง๏ผไฝ ไธๅปบ่ฎฎๆ่ ไธๆจ่้ฝๆฒก็จ๏ผๅ ไธบ็จไธ็จๆฏไผไธ็ไบ๏ผไฝ ๅฆไฝ้ๅถ๏ผ โ
#Three child policy has come# Three children will definitely strengthen discrimination in employment. Will corporations now expect female staff to take three maternity leaves? Though only a minority of women will choose to give birth to three children, all women will be discriminated against. Unless menโs parental leave is made equal with that of women, the problem of employment discrimination will not be solved. Employment decisions are made internally within corporations. How would we intervene?
#ไธๅญฉ็่ฒๆฟ็ญๆฅไบ#ๅฝๅฎถ่ฟๆฏ่ฆๆๅฅณๆงๅพๆญป้ๆดๅโฆ็ไบไธชๅๆๅฆๆไธไธชๅฅณๅญฉๅฟ้ตๅพชๅฝๅฎถ็ๆฟ็ญๆฅ๏ผๅบๆฌไธๅฅน่ชๅทฑ็ไบบ็ไป็ปๅฉ้ฃๅคฉๅฐฑ็ปๆไบ๏ผไธ็ดๅฐ50ๅคๅฒๆ่ฝๆ็ฉบๅ่ชๅทฑ๏ผๆ็ๅปบ่ฎฎๆฏไธ็ปๅฉไธ็๏ผๅ ๆ่ชๅทฑๆดปๆ็ฝไบใ
#Three child policy has come# The state is pushing women to the edgeโฆ just read an analysis, if a woman has to follow the policy, from the date when she gets married, she has to [serve the family] until she reaches 50, then she has time to become herself. My suggestion is not to get married and not to give birth. Just figure out what you want first.
Some tried to apply the logic of the policy to other real life situations:
A: ๆๆฒ้ขๅ้ฃฏ
B: ๆฒไบ๏ผๆๅ้คๅปณ็พๅจๅปถ้ท็ๆฅญๆ้ไบ
A: ๆ่ชชๆๆฒ้ขๅ้ฃฏ๏ผ
B: ไฝ ่ฆๆฏไธๆปฟๆ็่ฉฑ๏ผๆๅไนๅฏไปฅ24h ็ๆฅญ
A: ๆ tm ่ชชๆๆฒ้ขๅ้ฃฏ๏ผ๏ผ
A: I donโt have money to buy a meal.
B: Itโs OK, our restaurant has extended our opening hours.
A: I said I donโt have money to buy a meal!
B: If you are not satisfied, we can extend our opening times to 24 hours!
A: I f**king said I donโt have money to buy a meal !!
ๅจๆๅ่ๅฎถ๏ผ่ฑฌๅฆๆไธไธๅดฝๅ ไบ๏ผ้ค่ฑฌ็่ๆๅป็็ๅฐๅบๆฏๅช่ฃกๅบไบๅ้ก๏ผๆฏ่ฑฌๅไธๅค ๅคง๏น่ก็ๆขไปถๅทฎ้ๆฏ่ฑฌๅฃๅๅคชๅคงไบ๏ผๅฐ่ดๆ็ไธ้ไบ๏ผๆพๅฐๅ้กไบ่งฃๆฑบๅ้ก๏ผ่ฑฌ่ช็ถๅฐฑไธๅดฝๅ ไบ๏ผๆฒๆๆๅคฉไธๆไปถ็ตฆ่ฑฌ็ไธ็ด้ผ่่ฑฌไธๅดฝๅ ็ใ
Back in our villages, if the sows did not bear piglets, the farmers would find out what were the problems โ whether the farm was too small, the hygiene was too bad or the sows were under too much pressure. Once you attended to these problems, the sows would give birth to piglets. Nobody would hand down a document to force the sows to give birth.
Some netizens fretted that more coercive government policies might emerge if the three-child policy failed to stimulate population growth:
ๅฎ่บซ็จ ็ๆฅๅญ็ผ่็ผ่ๅฐฑ่ฟไบใ
It seems that the day a single-people tax will be introduced is getting closer
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