Yu Xuejun, spokesperson for the Chinese National Population and Family Planning Commission, told journalists on 10 July 2007 that in the vast majority of provinces, autonomous regions and directly controlled municipalities, only children were allowed to have a second child. However, he was clear to point out that this did not imply a change in the country’s birth-control policy, nor was the birth-control policy itself a fundamental cause for the imbalance in gender ratios at birth.
‘China’s birth-control policy is certainly not a “one foetus” or “one child” policy, rather there are guidelines for different categories of people, and there are differences between them,’ Yu said. He stated that at present between 30 and 40 per cent of the population could have two or more children. According to the briefing, social development and population growth are very uneven in China because of the country’s vast territory. Each region is at a different stage of development and has different population issues, so the rules were developed in order to allow each region to set its own specific birth-control policies. For example, the policy in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, as well as Jiangsu, Sichuan and other provinces and big cities, is that one married couple can have one child. Nineteen provinces have ruled that in rural areas, if the first child is a girl, a second child is permitted. In the countryside of Hainan, Yunnan, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces, current policy allows married couples to have two children. In Tibet and other sparsely populated areas, more than two children are allowed. In the vast majority of the country, if a husband and wife are both only children, they are allowed to have two children. Six provinces allow a rural couple to have two children if one parent is an only child.
For full details of China’s family planning policy see: npfpc.gov.cn/policies.