China is piloting a project on a new culture of marriage and childbirth.

China will launch a pilot project in more than 20 cities to cultivate a "new era" culture of marriage and childbirth. This is the latest move by officials in the world's most populous nation to address its declining birth rate.

A mass wedding ceremony was held in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province (China) on April 25, 2023. Photo: Global Times

The Global Times reported on May 15th that the China Family Planning Association will implement projects to encourage women to marry and have children.

The Global Times assessed that this pilot project focuses on encouraging marriage and childbirth at an appropriate age, encouraging parents to share child-rearing responsibilities, and addressing the issue of exorbitant dowry demands. Dowry is a long-standing custom in China, in which the groom's family must give the bride's family a sum of money before marriage.

According to Reuters, the cities included in the pilot project are Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and Handan, Hebei province.

Yao Ying, vice president of the China Family Planning Association, stated at an event in Guangdong on May 11: “The pilot areas are expected to adopt innovative and proactive measures to support a reproductive-friendly environment and contribute to promoting China’s modernization with the support of developing a high-quality population.”

This project comes as many provincial governments in China are implementing measures to encourage people to have children, including tax incentives, housing subsidies, and free or subsidized education for those who have a third child.

Last March, delegates at the National People's Political Consultative Conference proposed that single women should also have access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and egg freezing to boost the country's birth rate.

In 2022, China recorded its first population decline since 1961. According to newly released data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), the country's population at the end of last year was 1.41175 billion, down from 1.41260 billion recorded the previous year.

The average birth rate in China in 2022 was 6.77 per 1,000 people, down from 7.52 per 2021 recorded the year before. This is also the lowest birth rate ever recorded in China.

Source: https://beta.hanoimoi.com.vn/trung-quoc-thi-diem-du-an-van-hoa-ket-hon-va-sinh-con-thoi-dai-moi-441559.html