China Sex & Gender
China’s 2018 New Marriage Law? Online Discussions on ‘Three Child Policy’ and Lowering of Marriage Age
Alleged changes to China’s marriage law have set rumors going on Chinese social media about a ‘three-child policy.’
China’s ‘New Marriage Law’ (新婚姻法) has become a topic of discussion on Chinese social media over the past few days, where many netizens have started talking about an alleged “Three Child Policy” and a lowering of China’s legal marriage age to 18.
The New Marriage Law was passed in 1950 as one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Mutual consent to marry and a heightened legal age to marry to 18 (for women) and 20 (for men) were among the important points stipulated in this legislation.
In the Marriage Law of 1980, this was again raised to 22 for men and 20 for women to promote population control.
Throughout the years, there have been various legal changes in the Marriage Law or in its interpretation, to deal with emerging marriage and family issues in a rapidly changing Chinese society.
Three Child Policy?
Over the past few days, various Chinese bloggers (e.g. here, here, here) suggest that Chinese authorities are putting forward a 2018 renewed Marriage Law, which includes the alleged proposal of a loosening of the two-child policy towards a ‘three-child policy’ (“放开三胎政策”).
These bloggers and many netizens denounce such a potential measure in saying that an extension from the Two-Child Policy to a ‘Three Child Policy’ would add to the burden of Chinese women.
Such a policy, they argue, might lead to Chinese women facing social expectations to birth a third child. And with supposed longer maternity leaves, they would also face unequal opportunities in the employment market.
When the ‘Two-Child Policy’ was officially announced in 2015 as the new national standard (全面二孩), allowing all Chinese couples to have two children instead of the one-child rule that was the norm since 1979, there were also concerns about the economic and gendered pressures of having a second child.
The end of the One Child Policy relates to the growing societal burdens of China’s aging crisis; many demographers proposed a further liberalization of the Chinese family planning system before.
But according to a Chinese Law site (66law.cn), news about an alleged ‘Three-Child policy’ is all just rumors: “Recently, online rumors about the three-child policy to be implemented in 2018 have grown. We live in a populous country, and if this three-child policy would be implemented, it would only add to the pressure [of this big population],” they write, adding that there is “no truth” to the reports.
The rumors find their root in the parliamentary sessions of March, when, as SupChina notes, a proposal drafted by a deputy named Zhu Lieyu (朱列玉) to the National People’s Congress made headlines for suggesting that a three-child policy might be adopted nationwide.
Zhu Lieyu (朱列玉): proposing a ‘three child policy’
“If China’s birth rate doesn’t see a rise after a three-child policy, we should consider ending any sort of family-planning policy,” the deputy reportedly told Chinese reporters.
Marriage Age to 18
The idea to lower China’s marriage age from the age of 22 for men and 20 for women to 18 years old is something that has already been proposed since last year.
In 2017, National People’s Congress deputy Huang Xihua (黄细花) called for lowering China’s legal marriage age. At the time, many people on Weibo were not happy about the proposal – with some finding it outright shocking.
Huang Xihua (黄细花) is an advocate of lowering China’s marriage age.
Netizens then expressed that they were afraid that such a measure will negatively affect the status of women in Chinese society and increase the nation’s divorce rates. “Won’t this lead to a drop in the percentage of women with a higher education?”, some wondered.
The potential lowering of the legal marriage age, a big trending topic in 2017, is still a source of concern for Chinese netizens now. “This is just a way to make us have more babies!” some say.
“We can’t draft a law based on gossip.”
Despite all talks on social media and blogs, China’s official state media have not released news about any new changes to the legislation yet. “Where is this official launch of the New Marriage Law?”, one female netizen (@澄明居-許振雲) wonders: “We can’t draft a law based on gossip!”
“WeChat accounts are one by one publishing about the New Marriage Law,” another commenter writes: “But there’s nothing here yet – it’s just WeChat users making up their own laws.”
“I actually still hope that we can be open to having three children [in the future],” one female netizen responds: “It will be nice for those who are capable of doing so, and people who like have more children. It’ll also ease the worries on the collapse of the social insurance [system] of those of us who are not having children. Those who want to can have children, and those who do not want to, do not need to. Then we’ll find the middle way in a developing nation.”
Others say such a measure would only add to the pressure of women in China today: “We have 30 million leftover men,” another commenter writes: “The more women’s lives are pressured and the more the value of women’s contribution to family life is neglected, the more females will be afraid to get married.”
By Manya Koetse, with contribution from Diandian Guo.
Follow @whatsonweibo
Featured image is part of a larger poster that can be viewed on the website https://chineseposters.net/themes/marriage-law.php.
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China Health
Let’s Talk about Sex, Grandpa: HIV on the Rise among China’s Elderly Men
There’s a sharp rise in HIV among Chinese elderly men, partly caused by a general lack of HIV & safe sex awareness.
First published
As it is World AIDS Day on December 1st, and while major discussions on the alleged first gene-edited babies immune to HIV are still top trending, other noteworthy HIV-related news is also gaining a lot of attention on Chinese social media these days.
At time of writing, more than 220 million people have viewed the Weibo hashtag “Number of Elderly AIDS Cases on the Rise” (#老年艾滋病病例上升#). The hashtag has emerged amidst news reports that there is a significant rise in the number of HIV cases among the elderly in China, particularly among men.
According to an article published on Weibo by Chinese news outlet The Paper, the number of known cases of HIV among Chinese men above the age of 60 has risen from 8391 cases in 2012 to 19815 cases in 2017.
One WeChat blogger’s response to the rise in number of HIV cases among Chinese elderly men (脊梁in上海).
On November 27, the Hangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (杭州市疾控中心) released news information relating to the problems of the rising cases of HIV and AIDS among the elderly.
In the city of Hangzhou, the detection of HIV among patients who are over 50 years old has doubled over the past three years.
According to a specialist from the Hangzhou center, this rise of HIV has to do with the limited HIV awareness among elderly communities, and with the fact that they are often not accustomed to using condoms.
Extramarital heterosexual sex is the main way of transmission for elderly men, with some also getting HIV because of homosexual sex. For elderly women, marital sex is the main way of transmission.
Because they are often late in seeking medical treatment when they feel unwell, the detection of HIV is often late, which makes that there is a relatively high number of AIDS-related deaths among elderly patients.
The problem of the rising number of HIV patients among China’s elderly population has received more scholarly attention of the past few years. According to a 2014 study by Tang et al, the sharp rise of HIV among elderly became more visible after 2010. In 2011, people over the age of 60 accounted for 28.4% of the total HIV cases Guangxi province (this was 18.7% in 2009).
A study in Nanning, capital of Guangxi, found that heterosexual transmission accounted for 90% of HIV cases among those over 50 years old, and that low-cost commercial sex venues were a primary site of infection (Tang et al 2014, 2).
The research by Tang et al shows that the use of aphrodisiacs (cheaper alternatives to Viagra, often illegally produced in local workshops) is significantly associated with an increased HIV risk for men over 50 who purchase commercial sex with female prostitutes (3).
One popular WeChat blog explained the reasons behind the problem of HIV among China’s elderly as follows:
1. They see prostitutes because they are seeking ways to fulfill their sexual needs.
2. There is little awareness on HIV or AIDS. (According to one story quoted in the blog, an elderly man who was diagnosed with HIV even told the doctor he had washed himself with detergent every time after he had sex with a prostitute – he “did not understand” how he got infected.)
3. They do not know how to use condoms / they are not accustomed to using condoms.
A man washed himself with detergent after visiting a prostitute.
On Weibo, there are many commenters who show their sympathy for the elderly women who get infected with HIV within their marriage because of their husband’s extramarital sexual behaviors. “How tragic for them,” a popular comment said, while others wonder: “What’s the purpose of marriage then?”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention advises people who have had extramarital sex, homosexual or heterosexual, to get themselves checked on HIV – also if there are people who suspect that their partner might have had sexual encounters outside of the marriage.
“The sex life of the elderly is a sensitive topic, but it needs to be talked about,” well-known lawyer Yi Shenghua (易胜华) writes on Weibo: “If we do not attach importance to the [open] discussion of this topic, the problem of AIDS among China’s eldery will only grow bigger.”
By Manya Koetse and Miranda Barnes
Follow @whatsonweibo
Tang Z, Wu X, Li G, Shen Z, Zhang H, et al. 2014. “Aphrodisiac Use Associated with HIV Infection in Elderly Male Clients of Low-Cost Commercial Sex Venues in Guangxi, China: A Matched Case-Control Study.” PLOS ONE 9(10): e109452. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109452.
Photo used in featured image by David Sinclair.
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©2018 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com
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