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China's population
People & CultureSocial Welfare

Chinese parents hope three-child policy means having a baby boy, at last

  • In rural parts of China, traditional beliefs in the benefits of a large family are still important
  • Experts hope ‘another chance’ reduces sex-based abortions, adoptions or abandonments

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For some families in China, the three-child policy is another opportunity to try and have a boy. Photo: AFP
Mandy Zuoin Shanghai

For Wang Huaiying, the elders in her home village cared a lot about having a male heir. Families she grew up around would often have three or four children in the hope of getting a boy, even during the days of China’s one-child policy.

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Born and raised in the countryside of Linyi, in eastern China’s Shandong province, the 35-year-old just had her third child, a boy.
The boy will have two older sisters, and Wang said she chose to have a third child partly because of the traditional desire to have a male in the family.
China is hoping its three-child policy will incentivise people to have more children. Photo: AFP
China is hoping its three-child policy will incentivise people to have more children. Photo: AFP

“It is a lie to say I don’t care about the baby’s sex … But our generation does not care as much as our parents, who still care about it very much. The younger generation does not think it is as important,” she said.

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“I discussed the pregnancy with my family and we decided to keep it even if it was a girl,” she said.

Despite changing moods among the younger generations in China, the preference for boys is still firmly rooted among many communities and, for some families, the newly implemented three-child policy offers another opportunity to try for a boy.

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