one-child policy

Harry Wu Discusses the Two-child Policy in China

The Eighth Communist Party of China (CPC) Fifth Plenum Session of the Central Committee has been canceled as of late October rescinding the one-child policy. All Chinese couples will have full liberalization for larger families with the current two-child policy, but public opinion is still apprehensive. 

Harry Wu at the Radio Free Asia studio gives insight into the new two-child policy in China, November 4, 2015, (photo courtesy of Radio Free Asia)

World Youth Alliance Hosts Laogai Research Foundation Photo Exhibit

The Laogai Research Foundation participated in a conference and photo exhibition held by the World Youth Alliance in New York City from October 25-27. The theme of the conference was the commodification of the person. The Laogai Research Foundation contributed pictures depicting the One Child Policy and China’s vast Laogai system of arbitrary detention institutions in which inmates are forced to labor. Keynote speakers at the conference included WYA founder Anna Halpine and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn.

Change on the Horizon for the One Child Policy?

Anyone knowledgeable about the One Child Policy knows of its shortcomings. Brutal enforcement, Party corruption, and stories of local government miscarriage attributed to personal retribution have been commonplace in the history of the One Child Policy. Optimists have expected a more transparent and less ruthless One Child Policy given the recent election of new leadership in Beijing. However, many fail to grasp the challenges Xi Jinping would face implementing meaningful policy changes at the local level.

2 Fatally Stabbed Over China's '1-Child Policy'

A man who was told by officials they couldn't register his fourth child because he didn't pay a penalty for breaking China's family planning laws stabbed to death two government workers and injured four others, state media and an official said.

Footage of police trying to subdue the man outside a family planning office in southern China's Guangxi region while he still brandished a machete was widely available on Chinese news websites and shared on social media Wednesday.

Newborn Child Rescued From Sewage Pipe In China

Chinese firefighters have successfully rescued an infant from a sewage pipe in Zhejiang province. The infant was discovered when residents of the apartment complex heard cries coming from behind the wall. After a section of the pipe was removed from the wall, it was discovered that the baby was stuck in the L-shaped joint of the pipe, and is believed to be a few days old. The landlady of the building said it was unlikely that the child was delivered there, as there was no blood found in the restroom.

Critically Acclaimed Director under Investigation for Violating the One-Child Policy

Critically acclaimed director Zhang Yimou, who is perhaps best known for orchestrating the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics, is being investigated for allegedly violating China's one-child policy by having seven children with four women. If found in violation of China's family planning laws, he faces up to US $27 million in fines.

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Do Recent Reforms Indicate that the Government Plans to Relax the One-Child Policy?

According to Wang Feng, a Chinese population expert at the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy in Beijing, the recent merger of the agency regulating population control with the Ministry of Health indicates that the central government might be taking steps to phase out the one-child policy. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Wang discusses the prospects and challenges of reform.

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