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http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/02/08/china_to_name_those_who_skirt_child_policy?mode=PF

China to name those who skirt child policy

February 8, 2007

BEIJING --Officials in eastern China plan to name and shame rich families who ignore the country's strict one-child policy and simply pay the fine for having a second or third baby, state media said.

Zhang Wenbiao, head of the family planning commission in Zhejiang province, announced Wednesday that his agency plans to expose a few such cases in the near future, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

"The public is very much aware that some celebrities simply pay money to have two or more children," Zhang was quoted as saying, without mentioning any names. "This kind of behavior must be stopped."

Xinhua said the province also has raised the amount of the fines for violators. In some cases, families will have to pay more than $130,000 for violating the policy, it said without giving details.

Different Chinese provinces and cities have their own methods of punishing family planning violators, including fines and work demotions. Fines are sometimes calculated based on a family's income.

China's family planning policy -- implemented in the late 1970's -- limits urban couples to one child and rural families to two to control the population and conserve natural resources.

The government said last month that although a recent survey showed that about 60 percent of Chinese people would prefer to have two children, there were no plans to relax the policy.

China has about 1.3 billion people -- 20 percent of the global total. The government has pledged to keep the population under 1.36 billion by 2010 and under 1.45 billion by 2020. 

© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company




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