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[bonnie]

Bi Kaiwei holds a photo of his daughter Bi Yuexing, who was killed when her schoolroom collapsed in the May 12 earthquake. Most of the students killed were only children, deepening the pain of parents who had stuck to China's one-child policy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/?q=china+one+child+policy&search=search+site&submit=Search&id=11881780&FORM=MSNBC&os=0&gs=1&p=1&adunitid=&propertyid=

[Emma]

That is good they have taken that approach.

I think there are various effects of the one child policy - not relating to the earthquake and other natural disaster- that may not have been envisaged at its inception.    We were told by our {Chinese) tour guide a couple of years ago that there is enormous pressure on the one child who is the focus of hopes and aspirations of 2 parents and 4 grandparents.  Sometimes they feel they cannot cope and it seems the youth suicide rate is quite high.

[bonnie]

That is good they have taken that approach.

I think there are various effects of the one child policy - not relating to the earthquake and other natural disaster- that may not have been envisaged at its inception.    We were told by our {Chinese) tour guide a couple of years ago that there is enormous pressure on the one child who is the focus of hopes and aspirations of 2 parents and 4 grandparents.  Sometimes they feel they cannot cope and it seems the youth suicide rate is quite high.

I had heard that before. It would be hard to feel like you had to live up to that type of pressure. What do they do if their only child is a girl. Aren't they considered less in chinese society??

I can't remember where I read or heard that many women will abort till the ultrasound says it is a boy. Not sure if it was China but I think so

[Knight]

Many times because the son is the one who cares for the parents and the daughter is married off and becomes the property of the other family a daughter means there will be no one to care for the parents in their old age So many parents kill the daughter at birth and try again until they get a son. The result is there are to many males and not enough females in Chinese society because of that policy.

[Naja]

Yes, I knew about what you reported, Knight. The imbalance of not having enough marriageable females also had a strange unbalance in the society. Now that the technology gives the gender of the babe early enough for an abortion they had been using this method as well.

At least they can now have another chance at having a child born if they have lost the only child in the nature catastrophe. However, if they as a couple are over 45, the child has the burden vor-programmed to live with his aging parents when he gets married. I suppose when growing up into the expectation and being indoctrinated to parental honoring, it isn't so bad as we westerners imagine it to be.