One Child Policy

This is interesting. I haven't heard about these slogans before, but Shanghai and Beijing don't have them. In its characteristically sensitive fashion, the government once again proves that it is in desperate need of a PR lesson.

China has banned crude and insensitive slogans promoting the country's 'one-child' family planning policy, such as "Raise fewer babies but more piggies," which have stoked anger in rural areas, state media said Sunday.

Among the slogans that were forbidden were "One more baby means one more tomb" and "Houses toppled, cows confiscated, if abortion demand rejected." Such slogans are often found painted on roadside buildings in rural areas.

The Beijing government is notorious for having a tin ear. Its policies encourage corruption and ruthless management.

The policy continues to engender anger and resentment, especially among farmers in the countryside, because of the sometimes brutal methods used to enforce it, such as heavy fines and the seizure of property. Local authorities themselves face demotions, criticism or the loss of jobs if they fail to hit population targets.

Media reports said all public servants in the province's Bobai county had been ordered to collect fines from people who violated the policy. If violators failed to pay within three days, their homes would be demolished and their belongings seized.

One villager said some fees were as high as $1,300 — an unmanageable amount for an area where most annual incomes were only $130.

Any time an official's compensation is tied to number of births, the amount of new investment generated or tax revenues brought in with no checks or balances on the other side, there will be trouble. In China, the national government has virtually no control over local governments, and local governments often terrorize the population in their jurisdiction. It threatens the government in Beijing which is why you hear President Hu harping on "social harmony" all the time.

National law prohibits doctors from disclosing the sex of a child in an attempt to reduce the number of abortions of female children. Unfortunately, doctors are poorly compensated and a few extra kuai will often loosen the doctor's lips.