China's Low Birthrate Blamed on West

China alarmed at low birthrate, but it's a global trend

The Chinese government is desperately trying to get its young people to marry and mate, but they aren't buying it.

After decades of the one-child policy and in the last several years the rising costs of raising a child along with education costs have made people think twice about getting married, let alone having babies.

So Beijing is trying to blame Western culture for influencing young women to focus more on their careers and not interested in having children.

India is overtaking China as most populous nation

Professor Zeng Yi, a population expert at Peking University's National School of Development, says the growing number of adults living alone was "very worrying".

He urged the media to stop promoting such lifestyles because it would lead to "a large group of empty-nest elderly people" and an "accelerating decline in the working-age population".

A similar appeal was made by Wang Peian, party secretary of the China Family Planning Association. 

"We should greatly promote the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation and the social respect for producing offspring, encourage couples to share child-raising responsibilities, and eliminate bad customs such as high bridal prices," he wrote in a journal published in March.

"In the late 20th century, with the rise of individualism, feminism and materialism, the second demographic transition, featuring a disconnection between marriage, family and procreation, started taking place in Europe," he said. "It had an extensive impact on the younger generation in China in the new century via globalisation and wide internet coverage."

How can he blame the internet when there the Great Firewall is in place in China?

Nevertheless, Yu Hai, a professor from Fudan University's school of social development and public policy, said low birthrates were a global and irreversible trend as more people say no to marriage and children.

Officials call for more traditional family values

"It's not something that can be changed by cultivating a new culture, or refusing Western values," he said.

"You may be able to make people not have babies, but it's hard to force them the other way round," Yu said, referring to the one-child policy enforced between 1980 and 2015, which resulted in numerous abortions.

"Besides, it's unfair to say Westerners do not value families. As far as I can see, family is of similarly high importance whether in the West or the East."

He said there were many reasons why young people were not having children, the top two are the financial burden and the education system focusing on exams and not encouraging creativity.

Meanwhile a single Chinese woman is appealing in a legal battle for the right to freeze her eggs to possibly have children later in life. Single women are currently not allowed to do this unless they get married, whereas single men can freeze their sperm. Why the double standard? And if a woman can afford to raise a child on her own, why not let her?

The ball's back in Beijing's court...