International- Fearing a declining birth rate, the Chinese government announced they would allow couples to have three kids.
- Insider spoke to Chinese youths from the "post-90s" generation, who told us why the three-child policy won't work.
- They cited the high cost of raising children and their fast-paced "9-9-6" lifestyle as reasons for not wanting to have kids.
When Shanghainese advertising executive Christie Wei read an article about the Chinese government's plan to change the quota of the number of children every couple can have from two to three, it made her "afraid" to think of what her in-laws would demand of her next.
Speaking to Insider, Wei, 28, said her first reaction was to send her husband a text message which read: "I will not have another child. Having three kids is a ridiculous thought. Tell your mother to kill that dream now."
Wei is part of the country's "post-90s generation," a term referring to Chinese urban youth born between 1990 and 1999. Due to the country's one-child policy, which was imposed in 1979 to combat a population boom, the "90s kids," who were themselves a generation of only children, now find themselves at a crossroads.
And the burden has now fallen on young women like Wei to birth not only two children but three - something she says she is "dead against."
The Chinese government on Monday switched up its population policy for the second time in five years. The authorities will now allow couples to have up to three children in an attempt to address its flagging birth rate and aging population. The country reversed its one-child policy in 2016, allowing couples to have two children without incurring a fine.
This landmark population policy shift came after the country's once-in-a-decade population census showed that it had logged its slowest population growth rate since the 1950s. In addition, according to a report from the country's National Bureau of Statistics, the country saw a staggering 18% year-over-year decline in the birthrate. There were 14.65 million Chinese babies born in 2019 and only 12 million born in 2020.
The high cost of raising children is holding Chinese couples back from having more kids
Wei and her husband of three years have one daughter, who turned 18-months-old in May and was already feeling the pressure from her family to have a second child. This pressure, Wei reckons, will intensify for herself and other young mothers now that the government has relaxed its quota on children.
"It was difficult enough to tell my mother-in-law that it's our decision whether we want to have one, two, or ten kids," Wei said, adding that the idea of her not producing a male heir was a "disappointment" to her husband's family.
But Wei will not cave because it is "too expensive" for the couple to afford another child.
"It's out of our budget, and things are already tight enough with one child," Wei said. She added that "meager" subsidies would be insufficient to convince most women like herself to sacrifice time, money, and energy into child-rearing.
And Wei does not think that other women her age will be swayed by baby bonuses or extended maternal leave, policies which the Chinese government said on Monday will be rolled out soon.
"Seven out of ten friends I have are unmarried. Of the three who are married, only one is a mother. If they wanted to have kids, they would have done so when we could have two children," Wei said.
The South China Morning Post reported this May that more of
Some Chinese web users on social media platform Weibo echoed Wei's sentiments.
"It's not just about giving birth. The real problem will be the next 21 years after the child is born. That said, if the government pays me 3 million CNY to raise a child, I'll consider it," said a Weibo user based in Shaanxi, with the ID WangOuSi.
Another Weibo user with the username Zhangfang made a post on the issue that was reposted more than 2,200 times and liked over 66,800 times.
"What we need are substantial subsidies, not encouragement. It's not because people don't like children - it's because they can't afford to. From birth to the time they start working, the healthcare, housing, education, and other costs are all problems young people can't solve," Zhangfang wrote.
"If we can't even take care of ourselves, what makes the government think we can take care of not only one, but three, children?" he added.
A fast-paced "9-9-6" life is the name of the game for young, career-minded professionals
Newlywed Wei Hao Ouyang, 29, who lives and works in Beijing, told Insider that both he and his wife (who declined to be named), 28, planned to maintain their "DINK" (or double-income-no-kids) lifestyle. They do not intend to have children.
Ouyang used the term "9-9-6" to describe his current working hours. The term is internet slang to describe China's "hustle" culture - where people work 12 hours a day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Once championed by Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, these "9-9-6" working hours have become not only common in most companies, but "expected" of staff.
"Children will not add value to our lives when we both work this hard. Our careers are taking off, and we barely have time to enjoy each other's company as it is," Ouyang said.
Ouyang told Insider that the value of the "DINK" lifestyle also meant that time and energy could be put into self-improvement and increasing their quality of life instead of becoming "sub-par" parents.
"It would be cruel to have a child, then never see them. A child isn't a pet cat that I can leave at home for 12 hours while I go off to work. If we were to have a child, we would want to spend time with them. But that is just not possible at this stage in our lives, or maybe ever," he said.
Quality over quantity
Jean Yeung, professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore, said that while there was a small increase in the fertility rate in China after the two-child policy was introduced in 2015, this fertility rate declined again in the three consecutive years that followed.
Yeung told Insider that the reasons for wanting a certain number of children, or not wanting children at all, differ from person to person.
But it does not mean, she added, that those who have more resources will necessarily want bigger families.
"Those who have resources will not necessarily want a large family because those with high education and income focus on the quality, not quantity, of children. To invest highly in a small number of successful children is more important for them than to have more children with diluted resources for each of them," she said.
Yeung added that she did not expect the three-child policy to have a major effect on China's fertility rate, because the proportion of the Chinese population who currently desire to have three children is "quite small." She surmised that there may be an initial boost to the number of babies, but any impact at all may be muted at best.
What the Chinese government can do, Yeung reasons, is to work on other concerns that young Chinese couples have, rather than just raising the quota.
These could include looking into how to reduce gender inequalities at home and the workplace, and methods to better facilitate the work-family balance and encourage men to participate more at home. In addition, the government could look into providing affordable, high-quality childcare, and further substantial incentives to increase the marriage rate.
"At home, women are expected to bear most, if not all, responsibilities for child-rearing and for caring for their not only their own aging parents, but also their in-laws. These are disincentives for women to postpone or forego marriage these days, let alone having babies," she said.
"Getting married and having babies is no longer a necessity for Chinese women to survive or move up in social status or gain fulfillment in life," she added.