Number of newborns: 16 million in 2012, less than 10 million in 2022
Authorities even made calls to encourage childbirth… Total fertility rate: 1.09 people
WSJ “Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping say different things about women’s human rights”
While analysis suggests that China’s population will decline to about 500 million by the end of the century, Chinese women, who are under ‘pressure to have children’ from the government, are turning their backs on this.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 2nd (local time), the number of newborns in China reached about 16 million in 2012, but plummeted to less than 10 million in 2022, making the theory of China’s population collapse a reality.
Chinese authorities are blaming women for the decline in the number of newborns. In October last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the state-supported All China Women’s Federation to “prevent and resolve risks in the women’s field.”
In response to this, Clyde Yicheng Wang, a professor at Washington and Lee University, criticized, “It is clear that Xi Jinping is not talking about the dangers women face, but rather views women as a threat to social stability.”
In the name of encouraging childbirth, Chinese authorities gave lectures on ‘family values’ in rural areas, but it had little effect. He Yanjing, who lives in Chongzhou city, received several calls from government officials urging her to give birth, but she responded that she had no plans to have more children.
Young women in China are increasingly reluctant to get married and have children due to the burden of their traditional role of taking care of the entire family. Compared to 13 million couples registering marriages in 2013, there were only 6.8 million couples in 2022. Additionally, China’s total fertility rate in 2022 is expected to be 1.09.
Wang Feng, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, said, “Awareness of women’s human rights is increasing in China, while at the same time patriarchal policies are being strengthened.”
WSJ pointed out that while the Mao Zedong government said, “We will end the Confucian tradition of discriminating against women,” the Xi Jinping government said, “Confucian values, such as the duty of filial piety to bear children, are important.”
In the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2023 Global Gender Gap Report, China ranked 107th out of 146 countries, falling 38 places from 69th in 2012, when President Xi Jinping came to power. Korea will rank 105th in 2023.
The Chinese government has declared “feminism an evil ideology” and is detaining several women’s rights activists and deleting their social media accounts.
A former employee of the All China Women’s Federation said, “The federation is paying greater costs in cracking down on social media comments than defending women’s human rights.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.