Hukou: A License to Abort
July 1st, 2009
The officials of some smaller cities and towns in China make it their mission to enforce the one-child policy with zeal. Their sword is the hukou, or residence permit., which effectively ties an individual to his birthplace, even though he may work and live elsewhere in China. The hukou indicates how many children his family can have, depending on his location – basically city or countryside. Though some big city residents can buy their way into a second child, families in smaller cities and in farm country can find it onerous to try to have another child – especially if their first was already a boy (if the first was a girl, the family can try again after waiting several years). Reports are rife throughout the country of local officials and activists in neighborhood committees hunting down women who wish to have a second child and forcing them to have an abortion. Even near Shanghai in the new century, families that just cannot give up the wish of a second child must succumb to the weight of social pressure and the law.
David (not his real name) is a Kunshan native with his own small business that refurbishes factories. Kunshan is a forty-five minute drive to the northwest of Shanghai. A small, wirey local in his early thirties, he speaks English in a hurried, staccato fashion. His dream for a long time has been to emigrate to Canada.
David and his wife had already given birth to a boy, who was four years old last year, when his wife found out she was pregnant with their second child. The nurse who had performed the sonogram in the first trimester was the wife’s eldest sister. The sister agreed to keep the pregnancy a secret while David continued to pursue a visa to Canada to work. Then, their thinking went, when they emigrated to Canada they would be able to have the child without harassment from the government.
Ironically, David’s eldest brother worked in the government, in the department that monitored local citizens’ adherence to the one child policy. David believed that if indeed they were unable to get permission to emigrate before his wife showed her pregnancy, his brother would help them keep the baby – or, at least, look the other way when it came time for the birth.
Unfortunately, his brother had been branded more deeply by government policy than the bonds of brotherhood could insulate against. While David’s wife was at the clinic with her elder sister for a check up on the pregnancy, David’s elder brother appeared in the office with an order to abort the child. No amount of tears or argument could dissuade the elder brother’s purpose and duty. The forced abortion went through nevertheless. If David’s brother had allowed David’s wife to have the baby the brother would not have been able to keep his job. At this writing, David is still working on emigrating to Canada, more intent than he ever was to move from China “so he can be free,” he says.
He and his brother are sworn enemies.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 am
Sorry Mr. David (not his real name) but you knew the governing rules and still tried to get away with it. There’s little grey area to negotiate your wants and there definitely won’t be much “sympathy” on your brother after he loses his cush job, hmmmm. . . or maybe you can raise both the second child and your brother for a lifetime? That’s always a possibility, one that your brother would love to have you sign on the red dotted line.
That’s right, run to Canada and be free to indulge your own personal outlook! The problem only exists here in China and for no apparent communal logic.
“Think of myself, think of myself, think of myself and my wife, now think about holding a grudge against my own brother for not solely considering me and my wife” – I’m with you there on your thought process.
Of course, you can always blame me for not getting the whole story. If that’s the case, I already apologized.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:59 am
It is unfortunate certain families keep putting feudal thinking ahead of the good of the nation. Some western people criticize it, mainly because western countries don’t have this kind of massive population pressure.
Btw, I notice there aren’t any comments on this site anymore, how come?
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:28 am
Dean and Outcast;
Thanks both for your comments. Living inside the reality of a country’s social issues and living outside them are very different experiences and implying different perceptions of a society’s obligations. I always tell Americans at presentations I deliver that the fundamental differences shaping Chinese and American societies are:
China: too many people; too few natural resources; too little space.
America: too few people in too much space with an embarrassment of natural resources.
China, Japan and other Asian countries are at the forefront of global issues countries in the West will have to deal with in more than just a political manner very soon. They too one day may have to legislate away individual indulgences that many may even consider freedoms – if not just entitlements – so that the society at large may survive; just as China has with its One Child Policy.
When I ask Westerners what intelligent alternatives they have to managing China’s population pressure, they go silent. When I ask them about their own managing their own population pressures, most of them say, “Keep the immigrants out.” Which sounds as draconian as the One Child Policy.
All for the good of the group, when said and done.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:45 pm
“When I ask them about their own managing their own population pressures, most of them say, “Keep the immigrants out.” ”
Haha, right. Actually a good case study for when happens when exploding populations in relatively small(er) countries are not taken care of with drastic measures is sitting right over the border in India. 1/3 the land area of China, yet the population is expected to pass China’s by 2030. I believe that is a devlopment disaster waiting to happen, though that feeling might be a bit exagerated.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:48 am
To Dean: I imagine that if you are in China and are so adamant of following the law (even the controversial ones) you must not even use VPN to see banned sites or to overrun any other weird legislation we have to suffer in China. We should promote you to the level of National model. Imitate Dean,
July 8th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Hi, Kailing;
I guess what you mean is that by David accepting the law he is a model citizen that others should follow like Lei Feng? I actually haven’t seen David for some time, but I do not know if he would think after that incident he was such a good citizen. But I’ll never know for sure…
July 10th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Kailing,
I admit that I am not the most law-abiding Expat living here in China, being that I do use VPN/Proxies to view websites that citizens in other countries can freely visit. I hope that does not categorize me as “stealing state secrets”, as we know that has been a hot topic these past few days.
The point I was trying to make is the inherent nature of the Chinese culture to disregard rules for the sake of personal interest. Point blank, no political correctness. Of course I should not generalize this statement without adding “for the sake of money” as a precursor. This concept is most prevalent if you deal with local Chinese businessmen, where I don’t even bother anymore to think long term. Of course I could be corrected by another’s experience, which I welcome.
Dean
July 21st, 2009 at 1:26 am
“To Dean: I imagine that if you are in China and are so adamant of following the law (even the controversial ones) you must not even use VPN to see banned sites or to overrun any other weird legislation we have to suffer in China. We should promote you to the level of National model. Imitate Dean,”
There’s a huge difference between not following one child policy and using internet proxies. The one child policy is needed to curb explosive and out of control population growth that was putting enormous pressure on national development and resources. Eventually when industrialization is complete the policy will no longer be needed, but because that wont happen for quite some time it is important for it to be retained.