Chapter 118
The weather was getting colder, but the Wu family at the end of the alley suddenly became lively.
Su Miao discovered that there were suddenly several children in their house whom he had never seen before. They did not look like city children in terms of their clothes and seemed a little timid and shy.
One is 6 years old, one is 4 years old, and the other is a baby in his mother's arms.
The Wu family's grandson is about 8 years old. When he goes out to play, he always brings two little tails with him, but the two children usually just watch from the side and are not familiar with the things they play with.
Su Miao learned from the gossipy guy that this was a relative of the Wu family who came from their hometown to avoid family planning.
Su Miao understood immediately. Family planning was a characteristic of this era.
In July 1971, the State Council approved the "Report on Doing a Good Job in Family Planning", which included indicators for controlling population growth into the national economic development plan for the first time.
In September 1980, the Party Central Committee issued an "Open Letter to All Communist Party Members and Communist Youth League Members on Controlling my country's Population Growth", advocating that a couple should only have one child.
It was designated as a basic national policy in September 1982 and written into the Constitution in December of the same year.
The main content and purpose are: to advocate late marriage, late childbearing, fewer births and better quality of births, so as to control the population in a planned way.
Since its formulation, the basic national policy of family planning has played an important role in solving China's population and development problems. However, it has also brought about the problem of an aging population.
There were deviations in the grasp of the degree of implementation in different places. Su Miao didn't know about other areas, but there had been many tragedies in the countryside here caused by the crackdown on excessive births. The family planning policy was still strictly enforced until the year of her death, but at least it was more reasonable and legalized in its implementation.
Aunt Wang was munching on fried soybeans under the roots of a large tree, saying, "I heard she gave birth to five. I saw that young wife had a small, flat bottom, and I didn't expect she was so fertile!"
Aunt Lin said in surprise while picking vegetables: "Five? How brave! It's so late now, the law is so strict, why would you give birth to so many!"
Aunt Zhang was knitting a sweater for her grandson and said, "I heard that the eldest is a boy and is being raised properly at home, the second is a girl and has been given to a relative who doesn't have any children, and the three youngest are hiding everywhere. They can't go back to their hometown anyway, because if they do, they'll be arrested immediately."
Aunt Wang said in confusion, "Then why did he have so many children when his eldest and third children are both boys? If they had only daughters before, I could understand why he wanted a son, but now he's asking for trouble!"
"Oh no! If everyone were as open-minded as you and willing to have fewer children, how would family planning ever make money? Do you know how much a distant relative of mine back home was fined?"
"How many?"
"If you have two extra children, you'll be fined 30,000 yuan!"
"Thirty thousand yuan! Capitalism only has thirty thousand yuan. Where can we, the working class and peasant class, find it?"
Su Miao squatted among a group of strong aunts, a small one, listening and recalling the policy on fines for having more children than allowed at that time.
In the early 1980s, it was called "fine for having more children than allowed", which was changed to "fee for unplanned births" in 1994 and "social maintenance fee" in some provinces. This was mainly because the government realized that family planning is an advocacy obligation and administrative penalties should not be imposed for having more children than allowed.
In fact, the amendments were made largely for the purpose of "joining the WTO" and responding to the international community's accusations of human rights issues. They were gradually changed to social maintenance fees, which formally expressed respect for citizens' reproductive rights.
The author adds: (In 2000, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued a document to unify the social maintenance fee. The 2001 "Population and Family Planning Law" clearly stipulated the social maintenance fee.)
In the 1980s and early 1990s, when the penalty system and the amount of fines were not clearly stipulated, there was a lot of chaos and random fines and arrests were frequent.
Grandpa Li came over and asked, "Your relative can't pay 30,000 yuan, right? How is he doing now?"
"Now? It's horrible! Because I can't pay the fine, they demolished the house, moved the furniture, seized the livestock, and took away everything that could be exchanged for money. They also wanted to take the man to detention. Her mother-in-law tried to stop them, and she was pushed into the cattle pen and died on the spot."
Ha! Everyone present gasped, including Su Miao. Although she knew that many tragedies had occurred when family planning was at its most stringent, she still found it shocking to hear about it now.
"Auntie, doesn't this count as beating someone to death? Have those staff members been punished?"
"Miao, you're still young and don't know the twists and turns here. Are all the money from the illegal births really handed over to the government? Who doesn't have grease on their hands? They have someone supporting them from above. This old woman was just obstructing public service. She's dead, so who else can be punished?"
There was a sigh at the roots of the tree. This was truly a family torn apart.
As they were talking, the children came over and made a noise. Aunt Wu asked the two children, "What are your names, children?"
"Abao, Awang." The older child pointed at himself, then at his sister, and spoke in Mandarin with a strong Zhuang accent.
Grandpa Li asked again: "Where is your hometown? Whose family are you from?"
As soon as this question was asked, the child's eyes were instantly filled with alertness. He pulled his sister, shook his head, and took two steps back.
Seeing the children were frightened, Grandma Li quickly pulled her husband to stop asking questions. She smiled and said to the two children, "Don't be afraid, children. We are all neighbors on this street and we are very good to your family. Don't be afraid!"
No matter how they were comforted, the two children were very alert and ran home holding hands.
Granny Li hit her husband and scolded him, "Look at how scared you've made the child. Why are you asking so many questions?"
Grandpa Li frowned and said pitifully, "I think they're pretty well behaved. Don't you want to chat with them?"
"Okay, don't talk about him anymore. These kids who have been hiding from family planning programs for years are all like this. They can't easily reveal their surnames or where they live, and they can't tell others their parents' names. Because if family planning programs come to their door, they will run to the homes of childless relatives and pretend to be their children. That's how they can avoid it."
"Yeah, yeah. In my hometown village, as soon as the family planning department arrives at the village entrance, they ring the bell, and all the extra children run off to hide in the mountains. But that's just how it is! Those family planning officers can always catch people. I wonder if they were dogs in their past life, so their noses are so sharp!"
"What a sin! Not only in the village, isn't it the same in our city? How many young wives have been forced to get IUDs? If they don't report it directly to their workplace, if they have more children than allowed, the whole family will lose their jobs!"
"Humph! God has eyes! Those people have done too many evil things, and there will always be retribution!"
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