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More Chinese women delay or give up on having babies after 'COVID zero' ordeal




Seeing Chinese authorities exercise extraordinary powers during a stringent COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai earlier this year altered Claire Jiang’s life plans: she no longer wants to have babies in China.To get more news about traditional chinese women, you can visit shine news official website.

During the April-May lockdown, the hashtag “we are the last generation” briefly went viral on Chinese social media before being censored.

The phrase echoed the response of a man who was visited by authorities in hazmat suits threatening to punish his family for three generations for noncompliance with COVID-19 rules.

“That really resonated,” said Jiang, who internalized the man’s remark as her own answer to the motherhood question.

“I definitely don’t want my children to have to carry the uncertainty of living in a country where the government can just come to your door and do whatever they want,” said the 30-year-old, who works in the media industry.

Studies have shown that pandemics and economic uncertainty historically weigh on birth rates around the world.

But, particular to China, its uncompromising “COVID zero” policy of promptly stamping out any outbreaks with strict controls on people’s lives may have caused profound damage on their desire to have children, demographers say.

Accounts of people losing income or not having access to healthcare or food, or of authorities forcefully entering homes to take people to quarantine centers, including elderly and children, abounded during lockdowns in Shanghai and elsewhere.

Demographers say people’s feelings of losing control over their lives from events like those can have major consequences on parenthood goals.

“China is obviously big government and small family,” said prominent Chinese demographer Yi Fuxian. “China’s zero-COVID policy has led to a zero economy, zero marriages, zero fertility.”

China’s National Health Commission and its Family Planning Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly said COVID zero is necessary to save lives, pointing to the millions of deaths around the world compared to only 5,226 officially reported in China since the start of the pandemic.A July United Nations report predicts China’s population of 1.4 billion may start to decline as early as next year, when India will overtake it as the world’s most populous country.

U.N. experts now see China’s population shrinking by 109 million by 2050, more than triple the decline of their previous forecast in 2019.

A separate U.N. China report said the pandemic had a long-term impact on first births, with women citing financial insecurity, unsubstantiated worries about COVID-19 vaccines affecting fetuses, along with difficulties in carrying a pregnancy and taking care of an infant under heavy restrictions.

“Couples that may have been thinking about having a child in the next year, definitely postponed those. Couples that really weren’t sure, have postponed indefinitely,” said Justine Coulson, the U.N. Population Fund Representative to China.

New births are set to fall to record lows this year, demographers say, dropping below 10 million from last year’s 10.6 million babies — which were already 11.5% lower than in 2020.

Official 2022 population data is not expected until early next year, but some places in China have published worrying statistics in recent weeks.

Screening for birth defects — a reliable proxy for birthrates – in China’s third most populous province Henan fell 9.5% year-on-year in the first six months.

Cities elsewhere reported double-digit drops in new birth certificates. Jiaozhou, a city of 1 million in Shandong province, saw a 26% drop in the first six months. Hukou, in Jiangxi province, saw a 42% dive.

Corporate earnings statements also provide some hints: formula maker Ausnutria Dairy, diaper producer Aiyingshi and Goodbaby, which makes cribs and strollers, are among firms citing China’s falling births as factors leading to losses in the first half of the year.