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Loss of a child sends families into crisis

By Lin Shujuan in Beijing and Qian Yanfeng in Shanghai (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-11 09:54

Figures from the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) show that, by 2005, the policy has helped China prevent 400 million births and reduce the average number of children for each couple from six in the early 1970s to 1.8 today.

"China has offered substantial benefits and welfare to those who have followed the government's calls for family control, from adding more working points in the 1980s to increasing salaries," said Zhou Meilin, director of the NPFPC policy and research office.

Loss of a child sends families into crisis

Members of Star Harbor usually spend New Year's Day visiting patients at Shanghai Children's Hospital. [China Daily]

But demographics experts warn that, after 30 years of enforcement, it is time the government focused more on minimizing the side effects of the policy, citing the looming problems of an ageing population and a growing gender imbalance. The ratio of male newborn babies to female is 100 to 127 between 1996 and 2005 according to NPFPC, not least because some parents choose to abort girls during pregnancy as Chinese traditionally prefer male heirs.

"For older parents, say in their late 40s onwards, it is a double tragedy when a child dies as they also lose their sense of identity. At that age, they are usually too old to bear another," explained Professor Mu Guangzong, of the institute of population research at Peking University in Beijing.

During a study of statistics from the 1990s, Zhai discovered that, on average, 54 out of every 1,000 people in China die before they reach 25, while 121 out of every 1,000 die before the age of 55.

By 2006, more than 375,000 mothers over the age of 49 had lost their only child, according to research by the NPFPC.

Based on these trends, Mu predicted the number of families who had suffered the death of an only child would continue to rise and hit a peak of 1.5 million by 2038, a level that will remain until 2050.

"The successful enforcement of any legislation requires three things," he said. "Punishment for breach of the law, rewards for abiding of the law and compensation for sacrifice induced by the law. The first two have been in operation for a long time. It is now time the third came into effect to sustain a healthy population growth and social stability."

Mothers over 49 have, since 2007, received a monthly government stipend of 80 to 100 yuan if their child is sick, handicapped or deceased. As of last October, it had cost local authorities 170 million yuan and helped 157,000 people, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the NPFPC.

Some provincial and municipal officials have also responded to the State Council's call to double or even triple the payments, with Beijing's Haidian district raising its allowance for bereaved parents to 300 yuan per month in April to offset the high costs of living in the capital.

For Ke, it is still not enough, "especially when you take into account many parents run into heavy debt trying to save their child, while most are just too old to get a well-paid job to finance themselves". But the student life instructor, who works at a private high school in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, acknowledged she and her husband were in a better position than most people.

As a board member of Star Harbor, a society of bereaved parents in Shanghai set up in 2003, she has helped dozens of families who have suffered the same misfortune.

"In 2003, my husband and I were invited back to the cemetery where our daughter was buried as the management there wanted to bring together parents who have had similar experiences," said Ke. "In all, 10 couples showed up that day.

"Somehow it made us all feel better to know we were not alone. However, for me it was also despairing to see so many others in a more vulnerable situation than ours."

She described one woman who had lost her 17-year-old daughter to acute pneumonia in October 2005 and now must survive on just 2 yuan a day as the majority of her monthly 800-yuan salary goes towards paying off a 20,000-yuan medical bill.

"At least my husband and I have a home and stable jobs," added Ke.

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