It has been almost 20 days since Shen Bolun and Wu Xia's baby was born. She doesn't have a name yet, nor a household registration (hukou). And she won't be
getting one of these important documents any time soon, because her parents are
not married.
Pregnancies outside marriage are not uncommon in China. But it's relatively rare that anyone decides to actually have a baby outside of wedlock, because the
baby can't get a hukou - and all the educational Josh Allen Jersey , health and housing benefits associated with it - unless its parents pay a hefty fine. This policy was invented to prevent violations of
the family planning policy, which states that each married couple can only have
one child. But that also means children born out of wedlock frequently fall into
the same category as second children.
Shen and Wu started a crowdfunding campaign to pay their fine and in the last few weeks, controversy involving their baby has dominated the Internet in China.
A tough decision
Shen and Wu had dated for around a year when Wu became pregnant with his child.
Shen welcomed the news with open arms, even though they hadn't decided to get married yet.
Since many in China regard having a child out of wedlock as embarrassing or even immoral, Shen's attitude is unusual. This attitude,
unsurprisingly Wholesale Bills Hats , was not accepted by either Shen's or Wu's parents. In fact, when Wu went into
labor a few weeks ago, her own mother looked on disapprovingly, according to
Shen's blog.
Three months after they found out about the pregnancy, Shen and Wu split up. Naturally, this put even more pressure on the couple.
Wu thought about abortion Wholesale Bills Hoodies , and struggled with the decision for a long time. But the baby was already 17 weeks old when they broke up. Her baby was big enough to
kick and produce little bumps that popped up on her stomach now and then, and
her heart softened.
She decided to keep the child. On June 21, Wu gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
But the next step was less joyous: getting the child a household registration, or hukou.
It is written in China's Marriage Law that all children, whether born in or outside of wedlock, should have the same rights and nobody should discriminate
against them.
But in practice Wholesale Bills Shirts , acquiring a hukou and its benefits depend on each city government's household registration policies. Wu is from Beijing and the local
policy states that both parents must present a marriage license among other
documents when applying for their newborn's hukou.
If the child is born out of wedlock, the parents can still get a hukou for the baby as long as they present the results of a paternity test to prove that
the child belongs to both parents and a certificate showing the parents have
paid a "social maintenance fee."
The fee was established as a punitive mechanism in the family planning policy, to punish families that have extra children. The size of the fee varies
from city to city, and is linked to the average disposable income of the city's
residents that year.
A crowdfunding campaign
Shen and Wu faced a one-time fee of 43,910 yuan ($7,073). But they also learned from staff at Beijing's Office of family planning that if they were
willing to get married Wholesale Bills Jerseys , then divorce after the baby obtains a hukou, they won't have to pay the fee.
They didn't want to get married for this reason. Shen explained that he didn't want the baby's hukou to be won through falsehood. Instead, Shen started
writing blog posts about his newborn and his dilemma, and asked netizens to
donate cash.
"We want the child to obtain an identity in the most dignified way as soon as possible," he wrote in his blog. "We consulted lawyers on our chances of winning
(a hukou) by suing, and it's almost zero in Beijing. If that wasn't the
case Cheap Bills Hats , we wouldn't turn to crowdfunding."
He explained he wanted the blog posts to serve the purpose of creating a public discussion and questioning the existing policy, rather than solely asking
for money. As a token of this sentiment, he accepted only 10 yuan from each
donor.
"We believe it's not reasonable to bind the right to bear children to marriage," Shen repeatedly said.
But money came flooding in anyway, as did criticism.
When Shen first had the idea, not many websites would host the campaign because it was a sensitive issue Cheap Bills Hoodies , Shen said. He eventually found that dreamore would accept the campaign. But it
was forced to shut down after 16 hours.
By the time it was shut down, Shen had already received more than 9,000 yuan, which he said he has returned to netizens.
His goal of educating the public and creating a discussion seems to have worked, since many people commented that they had no idea about these policies
existed. Some looked up social maintenance fees online and expressed their
surprise that the child of a single mother cannot have a Beijing hukou, and that
single women in China can't even receive artificial insemination. Many
questioned whether this is legal.
But there has also been criticism. Some say that using crowdfunding to pay one's fines isn't a responsible thing to do Cheap Bills Shirts , especially for a new dad. Some said the policy has been established for a long time, and is based on how complex the issue is, and
Shen shouldn't challenge it.
Regardless of which side is right and what Shen's intentions may be, his situation is shared by many in China, who can't find an easy way out.
Bound to marriage
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