The Communist Party of China has said that it will continue easing China's much hated one child per family policy, but they are being vague about details.
For more than thirty years, families in China have been held to population control restrictions that allowed them to have only have one child.
In 2013, the policy was relaxed, to allow exceptions to the rule.
But, as David McKenzie reports, decades of social engineering has led to a population crisis in China.
--REPORTER PKG-AS FOLLOWS--
EVERY CHINESE FAMILY REVOLVES AROUND A CHILD.
(nats)
THEY CALL HER TAO ZI…OR LITTLE PEACH.
LIKE BOTH HER PARENTS BEFORE HER, TAO IS AN ONLY CHILD…
(Chang Zi'an, Parent) "Once my cousin visited, and we shared a bed for a few nights" SAYS HER DAD "I really enjoyed that feeling and I wished that I had a brother."
BUT FOR DECADES, THE COMMUNIST PARTY RELENTLESSLY PUSHED ITS 'ONE-CHILD' POLICY…NOW, SOME EXPERTS CALL THE ONE-CHILD POLICY A 'GLARING MISTAKE'
Prof. Wang Feng, Fudan University "China has already began to feel an unfolding crisis in terms of its population change."
THE ONE-CHILD POLICY GAMBLED WITH CHINA'S ECONOMIC FUTURE. THE WORLDS SECOND BIGGEST ECONOMY NOW FACES A RAPIDLY AGING POPULATION AND SHRINKING WORKFORCE.
(David McKenzie/Reporting) "In just fifteen years there will be more than 400 million elderly here in China and many feel that the one child policy is out of step."
(music)
SO THE PARTY HAS CHANGED IT'S TUNE.
(music)
PUSHING A NEW IDEAL FAMILY…WITH A DAUGHTER...AND A SON….
(nats)
WHERE MORE IS BETTER.
TAO ZI'S PARENTS AND MILLIONS OF OTHERS ARE NOW ELIGIBLE FOR A SECOND CHILD. THEY SHOULD BE IDEAL CANDIDATES, BUT HOUSING IN BEIJING IS COSTLY… AND THEY SAY CHINA IS TOO COMPETITIVE… GOOD SCHOOLS TOO EXPENSIVE TO EVEN CONTEMPLATE A SECOND CHILD.
"Money is only part of the problem," SHE SAYS" your energy and your time is also important. We both have to work. It is hard enough to raise her as a success. It will be miserable if we had to go through that again."
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN, BEIJING.
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