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The policy existed but, after talking with some Chinese friends about this very topic, they said the system was corrupt. Anyone who want to get around the syste

The policy existed but, after talking with some Chinese friends about this very topic, they said the system was corrupt. Anyone who want to get around the system just had to bribe a local official, and there were zero consequences. Take this as anecdotal, of course.

bilbo0s 6y ago
It wasn't even a bribe, It was worse than that. It was literally, "You can only have one child unless you pay for each extra child you want." I mean, getting around the policy, was actually written into the policy. Which is kind of insane if the purpose was to control birth rates.
- booleandilemma 6y ago
  But wouldn't even require paying for extra children discourage people from having children?
  - astronautjones 6y ago
    aren't you doing that by having children anywhere?
- orwin 6y ago
  Wait, it's not that simple. Depending on where you were working and living, the policy was different. National-level, f you worked for the government (military, healthcare, PCC) you weren't allowed to have more than one child without loosing your job (if you were grunt-level) or paying and having your career path stilled (if you were CO-level). For other workers, it was more or less a "state-level" implementation with governors deciding how to enforce the rule. In most places, farmers had the right to have two children and could ask to have one more. City workers only one and had to pay different amount depending on the city and the governor for the second. Some governors were really, really hard on enforcement (forced abortion...) while other were more lax and made people pay acceptable amount for the second child. Still, even without hard enforcement, the illegal child have no paper, cannot join legal school and isn't present on the family register (and can't work/live anywhere legally). This is one of the 3 internal problem the Chinese government will have with the generation.
stevendaniels 6y ago
The policy wasn't as simple as the English name for it. It encompassed many other rules including the ages men and women could marry and the ages they could have kids. For certain people (mostly ethnic minorities) there was a higher limit. In rural areas, the limit was usually more relaxed than urban areas. Many women who got pregnant before they were allowed had to have abortions. Some women were forced to have IUDs, and some women were sterilized. So, depending on who you were, where you were, and how old you were, the one child policy might have restricted you to one child, or it didn't.

bilbo0s 6y ago

It wasn't even a bribe, It was worse than that. It was literally, "You can only have one child unless you pay for each extra child you want." I mean, getting around the policy, was actually written into the policy. Which is kind of insane if the purpose was to control birth rates.

booleandilemma 6y ago
But wouldn't even require paying for extra children discourage people from having children?
- astronautjones 6y ago
  aren't you doing that by having children anywhere?
orwin 6y ago
Wait, it's not that simple. Depending on where you were working and living, the policy was different. National-level, f you worked for the government (military, healthcare, PCC) you weren't allowed to have more than one child without loosing your job (if you were grunt-level) or paying and having your career path stilled (if you were CO-level). For other workers, it was more or less a "state-level" implementation with governors deciding how to enforce the rule. In most places, farmers had the right to have two children and could ask to have one more. City workers only one and had to pay different amount depending on the city and the governor for the second. Some governors were really, really hard on enforcement (forced abortion...) while other were more lax and made people pay acceptable amount for the second child. Still, even without hard enforcement, the illegal child have no paper, cannot join legal school and isn't present on the family register (and can't work/live anywhere legally). This is one of the 3 internal problem the Chinese government will have with the generation.

stevendaniels 6y ago

The policy wasn't as simple as the English name for it. It encompassed many other rules including the ages men and women could marry and the ages they could have kids. For certain people (mostly ethnic minorities) there was a higher limit. In rural areas, the limit was usually more relaxed than urban areas. Many women who got pregnant before they were allowed had to have abortions. Some women were forced to have IUDs, and some women were sterilized. So, depending on who you were, where you were, and how old you were, the one child policy might have restricted you to one child, or it didn't.