Published: May 27, 2008
CHENGDU, China — In response to inquiries from grieving relatives, local officials announced Monday that parents whose only child was killed or grievously injured in the May 12 earthquake would be exempt from the country’s one-child policy.
The exception, issued by the Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in Sichuan Province, said qualified parents could apply for legal permission to have another child, according to The Associated Press.
Thousands of parents have openly challenged the government over why so many schools collapsed during the earthquake. An estimated 10,000 students are believed to have died.
The anguish of parents and grandparents has been compounded by the one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 to control population growth. Provincial officials, especially those in rural areas or in regions with large minority populations, are sometimes given latitude in the application of the regulations. In some places, for example, families are permitted to have more than one child if the first is a girl.
According to the policy, local governments can levy steep fines on couples who have more than one child; the children of those who defy the rules are sometimes denied government benefits, including access to a free education.
The committee announced Monday that if a couple’s legally born child was killed in the earthquake, an illegal child under 18 years could be registered as a legal replacement. If the dead child was illegal, it said the family would no longer be responsible for outstanding fines, although parents would not be reimbursed for penalties already paid.
The changes, however, may come as little solace to parents who have only a photo, a backpack or the ashes of their dead son or daughter. Zhongxin Sun, a sociology professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said some mothers may be too old to conceive; others may have undergone sterilization. “To lose a child is to lose everything for Chinese parents,” said Professor Sun, who is a visiting scholar at Yale University Law School. “A child is their only hope.”
译文:
中国政府对震灾中亡残的独生子女家庭放宽政策
发布于：2008年5月27日
中国成都--应悲痛万分的遇难者家属要求，当地政府于周一宣布5.12地震中独生子女死亡或严重伤残的家庭可以豁免独生子女政策。
美联社消息，四川省成都市计划生育委员会发表的这份公告里称，符合上述条件的家长可以申请合法的许可证，允许再生一个孩子。
数千名家长公开质问政府为何如此众多的学校在地震中会倒塌。据估计约有10000名学生丧生。
孩子们的父母和祖辈的愤怒由于计划生育而变得更加复杂，计划生育政策制定于1979年，旨在控制人口增长。省级政府官员，特别是在农村地区或者少数民族地区有时会放宽这一政策的适用。比如在有些地区，一个家庭若第一胎为女孩，则会被允许再生一个孩子。
根据计划生育的政策，当地政府可以对超生的家庭征收一笔数量不小的罚款；一些不符合政策的非独生子女有时会得不到政府的福利和优惠，包括享受义务教育的权利。
成都计划生育委员会于周一宣布，如果一个家庭中合法出生的孩子在地震中丧生了，则该家庭中非法出生的未年满18周岁的孩子可以登记注册为合法出生的孩子。如果死亡的孩子是非法出生的，该家庭可以不再接受处罚，尽管政府不会退还给这些家长已经付过的罚金。
然而这些政策上的变化对那些只留下孩子的一张相片，一个书包或儿女骨灰的父母来说，并没有多大的安慰作用。上海复旦大学的社会学教授孙忠信（谐音）说一些母亲可能年纪太大而不会再怀孕；其他的母亲可能已经采取了绝育措施。“对中国家长来说，失去孩子就是失去一切，”目前在耶鲁大学法学院作为访问学者的孙教授说。“孩子是他们唯一的希望。”