A farmer has been fined CHY 90,000 (USD 14,000) for violating his country’s strict Birth Control Policy in Socialist China. Currently, China has a Two-Child Policy. However, the 50-year-old Liu Mouhua and his ex-wife kept having children until they had two sons and ended up having eight children. Initially, the man was fined CHY 2.6 million (USD 400,000) for breaking the Birth Control Policy on account of his misogynistic values. A local government in western part of the Asian country recently reduced the fines to CHY 90,000, after years of negotiation. After the first child, Liu was fined over every child because all his children were born before 2015.

Liu is a resident of Anyue County in Sichuan Province. After his marriage, Liu’s wife had given birth to five daughters. After that, they finally had a son in 2006 and another son in 2010. In between these two sons, they had one more daughter. As the family’s financial situation was not so sound, Liu gifted the daughter, born between the two sons, to a family. The farmer’s life changed in 2016, when he divorced his wife. Later, he got married again! Currently, he is staying with his new wife and seven children.

There are several family planning-related laws in China. Beijing had introduced the One-Child Policy way back in 1979 to prevent population explosion. Later in 2016, the Government adopted the Two-Child Policy. Under China’s set laws for family planning, there has been a restricted number of children that has been allotted to each couple according to the local government norms. Violation of the same can cause payment of a fine or a “Social Support Fee“. These fines are based on a family’s annual income and are calculated about six to eight times of their annual income. However, they are reduced to three times of the family’s yearly income after some time. Beijing has recently relaxed the Birth Control Policy due to a drastic decline in the number of young population.

Liu’s fine was about CHY 2.6 million. However, the local court agreed to reduce the amount to CHY 90000, after considering the economic condition of the accused and expected to refund in installments. Meanwhile, Liu said: “I am struggling extremely to pay this fine with five children in school and two in college. I shall pay what I have, after deducting expenditure for my children’s and parent’s daily lives. I will face it and endow as much as I can.”

The Chinese people wish to have a son, as they believe that males are the ones who pass the family name and their generations. However, the country’s strict family planning laws penalise people for having more than two children.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/boundlessoceanofpolitics/

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kousdas?s=09

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundless-ocean-of-politics

Contact us: koushik@boundlessoceanofpolitics.co.in

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das