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☆ Chinese people are debating a superstition that says 2024 is the 'Year of the Widow.' Beijing is starting to pay attention.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. They asked Beijing to issue a public notice advising people against allowing superstition to affect their life decisions. The belief involves the lack of a "beginning of spring" day, also known as lichun, at the start of a lunar year. "There surely must be a reason behind thousands of years of folk tradition," another person wrote in defense of the superstition. Advertisement"First you need to find someone to marry," wrote law blogger Chen Yiyu.

Persons: —, Mao Zedong's, haven't, Chen Yiyu Organizations: Service, Business, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, Weibo Locations: China, Beijing, Weibo

☆ China can't just rely on boosting births to address aging population issues, Renmin University professor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING — China can't just rely on increasing childbirths to address its aging population issues, said Du Peng, vice principal of Renmin University of China. Du is director of the university's Institute of Gerontology, which means relating to the elderly. China's population growth has slowed as births drop and lifespans increase. In the last ten years, Beijing has started to unwind strict policies that for about three decades had limited households to one child each. High education and housing costs, especially in the big cities where more jobs are located, has also discouraged households from having children.

Persons: Du Peng, Du Organizations: Renmin University of China, university's Institute of Gerontology, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs Locations: BEIJING, China, Beijing

☆ Is the bride 25 or younger? Couples get cash reward to promote earlier marriage in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Cheng Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A newly-wed couple pose with their marriage certificates at the marriage registration center during '520 I Love You' Day on May 20, 2023 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of China. Local Chinese officials trying to encourage earlier marriages are offering an incentive that all newlywed couples can appreciate: cash. The reward, which is restricted to couples marrying for the first time, is meant to promote "age-appropriate marriage and childbearing," the notice said. They include abolishing the "one-child policy" that reigned from the late 1970s until 2016, which was designed to limit the number of births to prevent China's population from growing too quickly. The China Population and Development Research Center, a government-backed institution, said the number of children per woman in China was the lowest among countries with populations over 100 million.

Persons: Couples Organizations: Development Research Center, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Young, Social, Twitter Locations: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, Local, Changshan county, Zhejiang, Weibo

☆ Video of man driving over woman repeatedly reignites China's domestic violence debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The wife had reportedly suffered years of domestic violence and was planning on a divorce, her family told state media outlet The Paper. “Given its prevalence, domestic violence is an issue everyone knows about, even if they have not encountered it themselves.”Volunteers in Ma Anshan city, Anhui province sign their names on a banner against domestic violence on December 14, 2011. TopPhoto/AP‘Family affair’In China, domestic violence has traditionally been regarded as a private family matter. The law defines domestic violence for the first time, covering both physical and psychological violence – though it fails to address sexual abuse such as marital rape. “Domestic violence allegations, even when they’re supported by evidence, make no difference – like judges just don’t care at all,” he said.

Persons: –, ”, Feng Yuan, Feng, …, Ethan Michelson, Michelson, they’re, it’s, “, Xi Jinping Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Twitter, “, ” Volunteers, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Indiana University , Bloomington Locations: Hong Kong, China, Shandong, Dongying, Guangdong, Chengdu, –, Weibo, Beijing, Ma Anshan, Anhui, Michelson

☆ China's Trip.com will pay its workers $140 million to have kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —China’s Trip.com, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, is introducing new childcare subsidies worth 1 billion yuan ($138 million) to encourage its 32,000 employees to have kids. Trip.com’s announcement follows similar initiatives by smaller Chinese companies and comes as the country faces a demographic crisis. The country is now the world’s second most populous nation, having fallen behind India, according to the United Nations. Giving birth to a first or second child would lead to payments of 30,000 yuan ($4,130) and 60,000 yuan ($8,260) respectively, the reports said. Some 6.83 million couples married in 2022, according to data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs earlier this month.

Persons: China’s, ”, James Liang, …, ” Liang, — CNN’s Simone McCarthy Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Workers, Communist, United Nations, Beijing, Beijing Dabeinong Technology, China Securities, QiaoYin, QiaoYin City Management, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs Locations: Hong Kong, Communist China, India, Trip.com, Beijing, QiaoYin City, China

☆ China fails to release cremation data from late 2022 when its Covid-19 outbreak raged
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

A review of the past 10 years of ministry data shows the annual figure of cremations was consistently included in the fourth quarter data report – until now. China has faced criticism of its data transparency throughout the pandemic, including how it counts Covid-19 deaths. In January, a top WHO official accused China of “under-representing” the severity of its Covid outbreak, and repeated the agency’s critique of Beijing’s “narrow” definition of what constitutes a Covid death. At that time, Chinese health officials only listed those Covid patients who succumbed with respiratory failure and pneumonia as having died of Covid. It’s not clear if China plans to release the national data on cremations at a later date.

Persons: cremations, Yanzhong Huang, Covid, ” Huang, Hector Retamal, China’s, “, bode, It’s Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, Council, Foreign Relations, Ministry, Civil Affairs, CNN, Getty, WHO, Covid, World Health Organization Locations: Hong Kong, China, New York, Shanghai, AFP, Wuhan, Communist, “

☆ China records fewest marriages in more than three decades as population crisis looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Some 6.83 million couples married in 2022, according to data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs on Friday. That’s down around 10.5% from the 7.63 million marriage registrations in 2021 and marks a record low since 1986, when the ministry began releasing statistics, according to state media. Chinese officials see a direct link between fewer marriages and falling births in the country, where social norms and government regulations make it challenging for unmarried couples to have children. Efforts from Chinese officials in recent years to reverse trends of falling marriages and births have yet to see results amid the looming economic and social issues at play. The Ministry of Civil Affairs’ recent data release also showed a slight fall in divorce registrations, with 2.1 million couples divorced in 2022, down from 2.13 million couples the previous year.

Persons: That’s, – Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, Communist, United Nations, Authorities, Communist Party, Communist Youth League, China Family Planning, Ministry, Civil Affairs, China isn’t Locations: Hong Kong, China, Beijing, Communist China, India, Japan, South Korea

☆ Marriages in China slump to historic low
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A new couple holding marriage certificates poses for a photo outside a registry office of marriage on Valentine's Day in Beijing, China, February 14, 2017. China's birth rate fell last year to 6.77 births per 1,000 people, the lowest on record, from 7.52 in 2021. Demographers warn China will get old before it gets rich, as its workforce shrinks and indebted local governments spend more on their elderly population. To encourage marriage and boost the country's flagging birth rate, China said last month it would launch pilot projects in more than 20 cities to create a "new-era" marriage and childbearing culture. Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard and Ellen Zhang; Editing by David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Jason Lee, Martin Quin Pollard, Ellen Zhang, David Holmes Organizations: REUTERS, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, BEIJING, Demographers

☆ India rejects China's renaming of places along disputed border
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI/BEIJING, April 4 (Reuters) - India rejected on Tuesday the renaming by China of places in what India regards as its eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of its territory. The statement included a map that showed the 11 places renamed by China as being within "Zangnan", or southern Tibet in Chinese, with Arunachal Pradesh included in southern Tibet and China's border with India demarcated as just north of the Brahmaputra river. "Arunachal Pradesh is, has been and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter. But a spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry said the name changes were "completely within the scope of China's sovereignty". "The southern Tibet region is Chinese territory," the spokesperson, Mao Ning, told a regular media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.

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