DURING a visit to a young mother’s home in rural Shaanxi province in north-western China, Qin Shuhui, a family-planning worker, sets out a row of plastic cups on a bare concrete floor. They are playthings for the woman’s only child, a 27-month-old girl. Addressing the toddler by her nickname, Yingying, Ms Qin patiently tries to coax her to toss rings around the cups. When Yingying instead walks over and places a ring next to one, Ms Qin smiles and chirps “well done”. Turning to the mother, she says: “You should applaud no matter what. It doesn’t matter if she fails to toss it around the cup.”
It is an unusually warm and fuzzy scene given the harsh reputation of Ms Qin’s employers. She is a member of a 1m-strong army of family-planning officials whose mission is to enforce China’s one-child policy. They make sure that mothers are sterilised or are fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs), or that fathers are given vasectomies, after they have had their last legally allowed child (many parents can have a second one if they meet certain conditions). Ms Qin used to perform such duty when she first met Yingying’s mother and prodded her about...Continue reading
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