CHRONICLE: Increased burden for the little emperors

I see them everywhere in Beijing's street life and parks: a small group of people orbiting satellites around a central dwarf planet. Various constellations of mother, father, grandparents protecting, serving and raising a lonely child. Only children drenched in attention. Children who have never been tampered with sibling rivalry or forced to share. It is such a common sight in China that it named a whole generation of children: the little emperors.

These single children are the result of China's one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 in an effort to slow population growth. Women who became pregnant with a second child were pressured into abortion; families that persevered suffered fines and penalties. The policy was conducted primarily in the big cities and described by the Chinese authorities as a success. It is estimated that more than 250 million births were prevented between 1980 and 2000.

The flip side of the medal is that the lonely children are now growing up and have to take care of their aging parents in a China where people live longer and where the labor shortage is acute. By 2050, every fourth Chinese is estimated to be a pensioner, without a social safety net to land in when the pension is insufficient. And China's large state pension fund will run out of money in less than 20 years, as the working portion of the population's payments is constantly declining, a new report from the Chinese state shows.

In 2015, the one-child policy was abolished and replaced by a two-child policy. Although the number of births increased initially, the curve now points down again. Last year, only about 15 million children were born.

This is about having a restriction at all is wrong, says a Chinese population expert SVT has talked to. He says it should be a given that it gives better results to let families decide for themselves. Restrictions send the wrong signals, he believes, and give as an example how the state English-language newspaper China Daily last year wrote that births are not family affairs, but a state concern. He does not believe this kind of rhetoric encourages increased nativity.

Scientists in China are now calling for a shift in mindset, saying that the Chinese state must abandon the old principle of just whipping, and instead introduce more carrots. In this context, through financial benefits for those who choose to have more children. Cheaper childcare and school as well as financial support that the Swedish child allowance could work, says one of these researchers. There are sensitive questions to be asked about why the SVT talked to wants to be anonymous.

- Even though I could afford it, I'm not sure I have time to have another child, says Wou in our interview. She is barely 40 years old, in the middle of her career, and what she expresses is not an uncommon opinion for the Chinese middle-class woman.

- I'm basically not particularly fond of children and a child is enough, she adds and smiles. She knows that it is a bit forbidden to admit that you don't like children enough to compromise your career.

Raising children in China today and giving them a competitive education takes time and effort, and it is a responsibility that often lands on women. Already in the early school age, many people start with extra studies and extra activities. A working day for a six-year-old is not often twelve hours long. The competition for the best education is fierce in China today. It is important to be in the right place already in elementary school, to have the chance to the best upper secondary schools, and then to the right universities, which lead to the right jobs. In the end, a lonely child will often have to take care of both mother and father, and perhaps future in-laws, and that's the case with finding the right one from the beginning.

In the first years, all adults revolve around the "little emperors". Soon enough, it will be their demanding lot to move around in a planetary system of aging, needy and stationary dependents.