China finished its National “Lianghui” from March 4 to March 12 this year. “Lianghui,” or the “Two Conferences,” is a common Mandarin Chinese abbreviation for the National People’s Congress and the National Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. It is a rubber stamp process to show there is “democracy” in China: the representatives can review, approve, and comment on the work of the central government and propose policies to the governments, though that has no substantial effect.
A few representatives made proposals this year to encourage more births, indicating that China is facing a serious birth shortage problem.
A university vice president suggested to shorten the education of elementary, middle, and high schools from 12 years to 10 years, so that “people can graduate earlier, start work earlier, get married earlier, and then have babies earlier.”
Another representative suggested to completely lift the birth control policy in Northeastern China. China’s current policy is that a couple can have up to three children. According to Beijing’s 2020 Census, the population in Northeastern China dropped 11 million from 2010 to 2020.
Another proposal was to allow people to retire at the age of 45. The earlier retirement could free up more jobs to young people, so that they have less pressure to focus on their job and delay the time to have baby.
There are also proposals to allow single women to have one child and mandate men to take one month of paternity leave.
Source: Epoch Times, March 10, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/3/10/n13635697.htm