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Bruce Humes
October 7, 2017 at 9:32 am
It’s quite revealing that — at least in the Weibo comments cited — all the potential “solutions” are limited to family members.
There is no mention of hiring a baby-sitter, part-time amah or full-time nanny. How come?
Obviously, many Chinese households couldn’t afford the latter, but in 1st- and 2nd-tier cities, they can. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, many middle-class families hire part- or full-time nannies to do housework and look after children. Hong Kongers in particular do so, and insist on a Filipina or Indonesian female who is both truly caring about children, and can teach them English to boot!
Among the Chinese mothers I know in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, however, hiring someone from outside the family to look after one’s children is considered very problematic, and most refuse to do so. Why? Because they are afraid their hires will 1) Steal from them, 2) Mistreat their children if a relative is not present, and/or 3) Kidnap their children and sell them to traffickers.
Tells you a lot about contemporary Chinese society, doesn’t it?