China's Nouveau Riche Spur Crisis By Ignoring One-Child Rule

BEIJING — China's new rich are sparking a population crisis by disregarding the nation's one-child rule.

Under the policy introduced in 1979, families face fines if they have two or more children. But rising incomes, especially in the affluent eastern and coastal regions, mean that more and more people can afford to pay to have as many offspring as they like.

According to a recent survey by China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, the number of wealthy people and celebrities deciding to have more than one child has increased rapidly, despite fines that can be as high as $26,000 for each extra child.

Almost 10% of high earners are now choosing to have three children because large families are associated with wealth, status, and happiness in China.

The traditional preference for boys over girls is also fueling the baby boom, as families try for a boy if their first child is female.

But this trend is prompting public anger at a time when the widening gap between rich and poor is being seen by the government as a threat to the country's stability.

A survey earlier this year by the China Youth Daily newspaper showed that more than 60% thought it was unfair that the rich and famous can bypass the one-child policy.

"Celebrities and affluent people are supposed to be role models, but their violation of family policy undermines social stability," said one citizen on the website of the government newspaper People's Daily.

Regional governments are now introducing draconian measures aimed at stopping the baby boom.

In the south-eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, officials are planning to disgrace those who violate the policy by publicly naming them and introducing blacklists so that they are no longer eligible for awards or honors.

Under a new code of conduct for China's 6.5 million civil servants, officials who have more than one child will also be punished.

With 1.3 billion people, China is the world's most populous country. The government credits the one-child policy with leading to 400 million fewer births since 1979.

But the policy is also under threat from an increase in the number of early marriages in rural areas, as well as from the millions of people who are allowed to have two offspring if they themselves were single children.