Society
Beijingers split on having only one child
By Wang Qingyun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-04-25 17:21
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About half of Beijingers born as the only children since the family planning policy was implemented in 1979 want to give birth to only one child, the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences found in a survey, the Beijing News reported Monday.
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Of the urban residents, 33.4% would like a second child, and 47.6% of the rural residents want a second child. As for a third child, 1% of the urban residents said yes, while only 0.6% of the rural residents shared that view.
Even among couples who were interviewed, of which both are single children, only 26.13% of urban couples and 36.33% of rural couples say they want a second child. Of the rural residents, 73.1% say "it doesn't make a difference giving birth to a boy or a girl," 8.3 points higher than their urban counterparts.
The Beijing Academy of Social Sciences said the survey is random and wide enough to reflect that having only one child is the mainstream view of both urban and rural Beijingers.
But Tang Jun, a fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, doubts the conclusions of the survey. He points out that many people from the rural district of Changping are changing to a more urban lifestyle, thus the interviewees there don't necessarily reflect how Beijing rural people feel about child bearing.
What's more, the survey doesn't lead to the conclusion that a majority of families want only one child, given that among the interviewees from Changping, 50.4% want only one child, and 47.6% want a second child, said Tang.?