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China’s one-child policy

China’s one-child policy
The latest news, analysis and opinion on China’s one-child policy. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
A couple participates in a group wedding in August, in China’s Guangdong province. Photo: Getty Images
China's population

Glimmer of hope? Why China’s marriage uptick could spark 2026 birth rebound

Double-digit jump in registration rate, boosted by policy and cultural tradition, offers modest upturn, but demographers are wary of weak fertility intentions.

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From our archives

On This Day | In 2015, China announces end to one-child policy – from the SCMP archive

China's population

China’s population decline laid bare as Shanghai school enrols only 22 pupils

Mainland China

My Take | Why China’s US$40 monthly subsidy for every new baby is a big deal

The country had implemented its infamous one-child policy for nearly four decades, covering about two generations of Chinese.

A father carries his daughter on his shoulders on Wangfujing Commercial Street in Beijing, July 21, 2021. Photo: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
China birth rate

China’s US$500-a-year baby subsidy to boost population

First national childcare support scheme, a supplement to local baby bonus programmes, aimed at reversing population decline.

China birth rate

‘Milestone’: China launches first national childcare subsidies amid birth crisis

But analysts warn the cash transfers may be too little, too late.

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China's population

Can birth subsidies save China from its looming population crisis?

China is betting big on birth subsidies to stave off a demographic crisis. But do cash payments really work?

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Illustration: Pearl Law
Two Sessions 2025

China, it’s time for ‘the talk’: sex education urged for children

Years after Beijing called for ‘age-appropriate sex education for minors’, a national curriculum remains absent as China’s demographic crisis worsens.

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US-China relations

Aching since China halted foreign adoptions, US families pin hopes on Trump

Resolving the matter of nearly 270 pending adoptions from China could be a win-win for both Beijing and Washington, experts say.

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China's population

My Take | China’s bleak demographic condition offers harsh lessons for policymakers

Beijing’s efforts to cultivate a ‘birth-friendly society’ marks an about-turn from its rigid, decades-long enforcement of a one-child policy.

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Children play at a kindergarten in Fuyang, a city in eastern Anhui province. China’s birth rate in 2025 could fall to 8 million. Photo: Future Publishing via Getty Images
China's population

How China’s ‘little emperors’ went from monarchs to overwhelmed caregivers

China’s one-child policy has created a zero-sibling generation – and caring for parents and children in a tough economy is taking its toll.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
China's ageing population

China delays retirement as pension system creaks

Beijing’s phased retirement plan will ease pension pressures but will keep older workers in a job market that is tightening.

Adoption

Video | China ends adoption scheme for foreign families

Foreigners in China

China officially ends adoption scheme for foreign families

Only relatives will now be allowed to adopt and US diplomats have reportedly been told that Beijing will not process cases that are already under way.

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Tens of thousands of Chinese children have been adopted by foreign families since the process started in the 1980s. Photo: AP
China society

Opinion | Solutions to China’s birth rate problem don’t lie in Japan’s playbook

Japan’s expensive, inefficient approach will not get China back on the right track, and neither will the coercion of the one-child policy.

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A woman carries a child at a park in Beijing. China’s population shrank by 2 million people last year, a trend that looks set to continue. Photo: Bloomberg
Women and gender

Chinese firms caught ordering illegal pregnancy tests for female jobseekers

Prosecutors in the eastern city of Nantong took action against 16 local companies for sex discrimination.

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Adoption

Video | Chinese adoptees return from US to seek roots

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Women and gender

Running from China: the ‘older’ single women escaping to study in the West

It’s tagged the ‘run philosophy’ on social media – single women in their thirties with nothing to hope for in China leaving to study in the West, with no intention of returning. Post Magazine talks to some.

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Single women in their thirties leaving China to study is a trending topic on social media. Photo: Getty Images
China's population

China ends 9-year decline in new marriages in 2023, but divorces also climb

China registers 7.68 million newlywed couples, up 845,000 from the previous year in what analysts say is sign of post-pandemic wedding rebound.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

Like a Chinese Michael Crichton, Lin Jianjie went from science to filmmaking

Brief History of a Family made a splash at Sundance and is about to screen at the Berlin film festival. Its Chinese director, Lin Jianjie, reflects on its subject – China’s middle class – and dreamlike ending.

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China’s Communist Party

China’s top women’s affairs official vows to promote marriage and family

Shen Yiqin, state councillor and president of the All-China Women’s Federation, says women must contribute to the ‘great cause of national rejuvenation’.

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Chinese state councillor and president of the All-China Women’s Federation Shen Yiqin has called for greater effort to eliminate gender discrimination and domestic violence. Photo: Reuters
China society

Opinion | On marriage and babies, China should try listening, not arm-twisting

In a national push, local governments in China have been roped in to promote marriage and childbirth as a social and economic duty. Beijing should tread gently though, as public attitudes towards where the state may apply its coercive powers have changed.

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A man pushes a child riding on a suitcase at Beijing West Railway Station on January 18. As the Chinese population declines, pilot projects are being launched across China to create a marriage and childbearing culture for a “new era”. Photo: AP
Women and gender

Opinion | Give China’s single mothers equal rights to fix flagging birth rate

Growing numbers of independent-minded Chinese women no longer see marriage as a necessary passage in life, but they might still embrace motherhood. Passing a nationwide law ensuring equal rights for single mothers would remove significant barriers to having children and be good for the country as a whole.

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China's population

Will China’s 2023 births plummet to 7 million? Academic warns it’s possible

After demographic alarms went off when Chinese mothers had fewer than 10 million children, how critical will the situation become if only 7 million are born this year?

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China's ageing population

Video | China’s elderly are heading to retirement, here’s why that’s a problem

China’s elderly are heading to retirement, here’s why that’s a problem
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China's population

Video | No longer ‘leftover’: China’s women take charge

No longer ‘leftover’: China’s women take charge
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China's population

Video | Why China’s population crisis has already begun

China's population

Are skewed incentives to blame for China’s deepening demographic crisis?

Government adviser criticises local-level authorities across China for rewarding couples that have multiple kids while withholding such benefits for those who have just one, amid growing fears over the shrinking population.

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