China's newest approach to family planning is to financially reward farmers over 60 who have kept their families small.

Zhou Yungui, a 60-year-old farmer from Changde City in Hunan, never expected that he would one day become the envy of his fellow villagers, when he responded to the country's call not to have a second child over 20 years ago. On August 19, he received 600 yuan (US$72.5), an annual bonus from the government to reward farmers who have followed the country's family planning policy. Upon receiving the reward Zhou said, "The 1,200 yuan (US$145) bonus for me and my wife is enough to cover our basic expenses for one year, which is better than having one more child to support us."

Zhou's family is among hundreds of thousands of families benefiting from a new pilot rewarding and supporting program launched by the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) this year. The program had been brewing for two years before the NPFPC and the Ministry of Finance officially gave it the go-ahead this May. It serves as a social security scheme for farmers who responded to the government's call to have fewer children in the 1970s and are now short of financial support in their old age, a result of the lack of social security system in rural China.

This project is being tried out in 14 provinces and the municipality of Chongqing in central and west China. Thirty farmers from Jiaozuo City, Henan, who received the 600-yuan bonus on July 27, became the first beneficiaries nationwide. According to the NPFPC, if it proves successful, the project will be carried out beyond the pilot areas by the end of next year.

The project is mainly financed by the Central Government. As for pilot provinces in central China, the central and local governments each shoulder half of the expenses, while for pilot provinces in west China, 80 percent of the expenses will come from the Central Government while local governments bear the remaining 20 percent. Zhang Weiqing, Minister in charge of the NPFPC, announced that the bonus will be given to around 350,000 families this year and the Central Government has earmarked 200 million yuan (US$24.2 million) for this purpose.

Family planning innovation

At the end of 2003, the total population on China's mainland had exceeded 1.29 billion, a figure that was destined to rocket to over 1.6 billion had it not been for family planning. The total fertility rate (TFR) has been greatly reduced, from 5.81 births per woman in 1970 to 1.7 in 2000. Generally, China's population has entered a new stage featuring "low birth rate, low death rate and low growth rate."

Yu Xuejun, Director of the Department of Policy and Legislation with the NPFPC, said, "There is still much to be done to keep the low TFR stable, especially in rural areas." Having unplanned births for a boy still exists and is comparatively serious in rural areas of central and western regions. For example, according to statistics from the NPFPC, from 1990 to 1998, eight out of the 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipality in west China had an average population growth rate above the national average.

Skewed gender ratios and an ageing society are two pressing problems facing the country. Internationally, the gender ratio for new births is considered normal when it is no higher than 107 to 100. In contrast, the 2000 national census indicates the gender ratio of new births was 119 boys to 100 girls. This imbalance in second or third births is much more serious than the first births. Statistics of the census also demonstrate the gender ratios for first, second and third births stand at 107 boys to 100 girls, 151.9 to 100 and 159.4 to 100 respectively. Behind these astonishing figures are a large number of people who carry out sex-selective abortions and even abandon female babies in rural areas, in their quest to have sons.

Punishment remains

After the release of this new project, headlines such as "rewards replace punishment" and "punishment changes into rewards" appeared in many Chinese newspapers. However, according to Yu Xuejun, this is not accurate. Launch of this project, as well as other rewarding programs at provincial level, only represent a new approach to the family planning policy, or a shift in ways to better protect human rights, while the provisions of the Law on Population and Family Planning will not change accordingly. "Anyone who violates the national law will be punished according to law," said Yu. He added that along with the implementation of this program, "punishment," or the collection of social upbringing fees on unplanned births according to law, will continue.

Reward contributors

The major initiative in launching this program is to reward farmers who have made contributions to the nation's family planning. Most farmers who followed the call to have fewer children in the mid-1970s are reaching the age of 60. Without a comprehensive social security system in place in rural areas, the livelihood of their golden years seems even less optimistic, compared with their peers with more children, and they are becoming a financial burden for their children. According to Yu, now is the time to reward these contributors for the choice they made earlier in their life.

As a reward and support program, this annual 600-yuan-per-person or 1,200-yuan-per-family bonus can really make a difference for recipients' families. According to official statistics, the national per-capita net income of farmers in 2003 was 2,622 yuan (US$316.7), while this figure for central and western areas is below the national average. Since all the pilot provinces are in the central and western areas, this program will undoubtedly play an important role in improving the life of rewarded farmers.

Solve problem at its Root

In urban areas, birth control is no longer the major task of population authorities in China. urban couples are generally reluctant to have more than one child, as education and housing have become increasingly expensive. The cost of raising one more child can be unaffordable for a middle-income family. Although some high-income people choose to have more children and some even regard having a second child as a token of social status in recent years, this group of people form only a small percentage of the total urban population. As a result, the problem of unbalanced gender ratios for new births is not serious, and often non-existent in cities.

"The motivations of having children are different between city dwellers and rural residents," said Li Weixiong, population expert and Vice Director of the Population and Resources Committee under the CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference). Li noted, unlike their rural counterparts, most urban residents prefer girls, because they have pension schemes and don't have to worry about their livelihood in their later years. Moreover, daughters are thought to be more intimate with parents.

In rural areas, the major pressure on birth control lies in the lack of a pension system. According to Li Yongping, Professor of demography with Peking University, in rural areas, birth control is in contradiction with balancing the gender ratio. When the number of births is restricted-farmers are allowed to have at most two children, quality becomes more important. As for farmers, sons are higher valued than daughters on the grounds that: labor is still the most important element in farming; the tradition that sons support parents in old age still exists in the minds of most farmers; and the ancient tradition provides only a son can carry the family name and blood to the next generation.

According to a recent survey on women's social status, 12.5 percent of women in Guangdong, an economically advanced eastern province, are discriminated against for giving birth to girls. Li said, "Understandably, the first concern of farmers is for their livelihoods rather than the country's birth control or gender ratio." Thus, sex-selective abortion aimed to have a son is somewhat inevitable in rural areas. Li believes the significance of the bonus program is to solve these two contradictory problems at the same time, by providing social security for farmers who choose to have fewer children and daughters. "When they don't have to worry about their elderly life," said Li, "they will no longer have such a desire for a son. The only thing we still have to fight against is the ancient tradition that men are superior to women."

No social security

NPFPC Vice Minister Zhao Baige said in a press conference on July 15 that besides cultural preferences for males, the basic reason behind the skewed sex ratio is the lack of a social security system in rural areas. Thus, to set up such a system as soon as possible is the key to balancing the gender ratio of new births. She also said, besides rewarding contributors to the nation's family planning, this program also marks an effort to set up such a social security system in rural China on a trial basis. She believes that this program would probably evolve into a rural social security system if it proves effective in supporting the old.

The program has been warmly welcomed by farmers in pilot areas and already proved effective in changing farmers' motivation of having children since it was implemented. An online news report on the change of attitude among farmers in Henan's Jiaozuo City, the first city to implement this program. According to the report, more and more farmers with only one daughter in Jiaozuo choose not to have a second birth even though they are eligible according to law and regulations.

On the morning of August 13, a couple, Chen Yongli and Huang Qiuju from Wubuo Town of Mengzhou City, approached the town government for a certificate of honor for parents of only one child. "This bonus can somehow serve as a pension, so I decided not to have another child," said Chen Yongli, a 32-year-old farmer and father of one daughter. Wang Yongfa, a 33-year-old farmer from Qinyang City of Henan, has also given up the idea of having a second child, recently. He said, "I used to opt for one more child only for survival in my elderly life. Now things have changed: The government will take care of me when I am old. What’s more, I can devote all of my money and energy to cultivating my only child, which will do her good."

(Beijing Review October 7, 2004)