Despite international rumors and reports in the last month China's controversial one-child-per-couple law will remain in effect for at least the next decade, government officials said Monday. The Chinese governments statement ended weeks of speculation regarding the abandonment of the program to pave the way for more babies despite the largely aging population.
Zhang Weiqing, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said "Given such a large population base, there would be major fluctuations in population growth if we abandoned the one-child rule now." "It would cause serious problems and add extra pressure on social and economic development” he said (The New York Times).
The news that the one child law will remain a hold strong of modern Chinese culture comes of great disappointment to many, and even outrage to others, as the law has caused a great gender discrimination. In a society where children are expected to dutifully care for their aging parents, boys remain the preference. Thus girls have continually been marginalized, discriminated against, aborted, and abandoned since the laws inception in 1979.
