According to the latest numbers, China’s birth rate has hit a new low, but state media are instead highlighting the fact that China’s population has now surpassed 1,4 billion.

This Friday, official data, released annually by the National Bureau of Statistics, shows that the total Chinese mainland’s population has surpassed 1.4 billion at the end of 2019.

In light of this news, Chinese state media outlet People’s Daily launched the hashtag “I’m One of 1.4 Billion” (#我就是14亿分之一#), propagating a sense of unity among such a massive population.

This message was also reiterated by other accounts, such as the Shenzhen Police, that said: “We’re all one big family, our name is China, we have a lot of brothers and sisters.”

China’s Birth Rate Falls to Lowest

While People’s Daily is publicizing the 1.4 billion number, the annual statistics also show that China’s birth rate has fallen to its lowest since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Although only 14,65 million were born in mainland China in 2019, the death rate of the country was also lower than before – meaning that the total population number still went up from 1,39 billion to 1,4 billion in the last year.

One thread started by People’s Daily on Weibo received nearly 530,000 likes by Friday afternoon, with thousands of Weibo users posting a response to the latest numbers.

Many netizens responded to the news in a similar fashion, saying: “There are already enough people [in China] now, I don’t need to have children anymore,” or: “Good, there’s so many people, I don’t have to worry about having kids.”

China’s marriage rates hit a new low in 2019 after dropping year by year.

Over recent years, various trends in Chinese (online) media have highlighted the existing social issues behind China’s dropping marriage and birth rates.

The rising costs of living and the fact that many among Chinese younger generations “prefer to marry late,” are often mentioned as an explanation for China’s decline in marriage rates and the interrelated lowering birth rates.

But China’s so-called ‘leftover’ single men have also been pointed out as a “crisis,” with China having millions of more men than women of marriageable age – partly a consequence of the one-child policy and general preference for baby boys.

Although Chinese couples are allowed to have two children since 2015, the new regulations have not had the desired effect, with many couples simply not wanting a second child or not being able to afford it.

For some years, ‘leftover women’ were mentioned as a reason for China’s declining marriage rates; China’s well-educated, career-oriented, urban single women were sometimes singled out for making it harder for China’s unmarried men to find a wife because of their ‘choice’ to postpone marriage and family life. This has increased the pressure on China’s single women to get married, which has become a recurring topic of debate on Chinese social media.

Today’s responses on Weibo seem to indicate that many young people are still not very eager to have children. “Let’s not add to the population, it’s enough burden for the planet,” some say.

Others say the number of 1,4 billion make them or their action seem “irrelevant” and “tiny.”

There are also those with entirely different concerns about the number: “There are 1,4 billion in China now, and yet I’m still not able to find a boyfriend!”

By Manya Koetse
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First published January 13th 2020, 19:40 CST

Many discussions on Weibo this weekend over a guy from Anhui being detained over a WeChat Moments post, in which he complained about getting a parking ticket. He used the expression ‘grandma’s legs’ (奶奶的腿) to do so, generally considered a ‘gentle’ swearing word. Weibo commenters are expressing their concern: if such a common cuss could get one trouble, virtually anything could.

A Chinese man from Bozhou city was recently arrested for scolding the police on his WeChat ‘Moments,’ according to an online report by the Suzhou Police department.

On January 10, the police account reported that the man was fined by local traffic police for illegal parking, although he refused to acknowledge he was in the wrong.

After receiving the parking ticket, the man supposedly “publicly scolded” the police via WeChat Moments (朋友圈) (a basic feature of Chinese messaging app Wechat that allows users to upload texts and images, similar to the Facebook timeline or Instagram feed).

Screenshots shared on social media show the WeChat post in question, which contained a picture of the parking fine and one sentence saying: “F*ck, I only parked for ten minutes to pick up [my] kid and it’s a hundred!”

The swearing word used here by the man from Bozhou is “nǎinai gè tuǐ” (奶奶个腿, 奶奶的腿), which literally means “grandma’s legs,” but could be translated as a common swearword such as “f*ck,” “motherf*cker,” etc.

One might also argue that “Grandma’s legs” is actually much less vulgar than the aforementioned cuss words, and that it technically is not even considered a swear word, as it is more comparable to the English ‘friggin hell’ or other gentle cussing expressions.

One day after complaining about the parking fine on Wechat, the man from Bozhou was reportedly summoned to the local police station and was detained at the spot for “creating a bad influence” (“造成了恶劣的影响”).

The Suzhou Police Weibo post on this matter gained traction on Chinese social media on Friday. But after it was read 500,000 times within just an hour, the post was deleted again.

Both the story and its online disappearance caused some consternation on Weibo over the weekend. Many people were wondering why and if common cussing is enough legal ground to detain someone, and why the Suzhou police first posted this news and then removed it again.*

“If even such a small complaint is enough to get arrested, Wechat Moments will soon turn into the ‘Chinese Dream.'”

The idea that one could get arrested for using such a gentle swearing word as ‘Grandma’s legs’ to complain about the police on WeChat is concerning to many commenters, who suggest that the police team in Bozhou was abusing its power and overreacted to the social media post.

“If even such a small complaint is enough to get arrested, Wechat Moments will soon turn into the ‘Chinese Dream,'” one Weibo user wrote.

“Saying ‘Grandma’s legs’ is considered swearing?! My god, this is terrifying!”, others wrote.

Not long after the Suzhou police reported this matter (and then deleted its post again), Phoenix News also posted about the issue, asking Weibo netizens whether or not “#GrandmasLegs” (#奶奶的腿#) could be considered swearing or is more innocent than that.

The majority of people responding to Phoenix News do not see ‘Grandma’s legs’ as a real curse word but as a mocking expression.

“But am I even allowed to express my opinion on this?”, multiple people write: “Won’t you arrest me for doing so?”

Although this particular Bozhou arrest is an unusual case, it is much less unusual for people to be detained for swearing and/or insulting people on social media.

In 2017, a man from Taizhou, Jiangsu, was detained for nine days for insulting a member of China’s civil police on Weibo.

Last year, a taxi driver was detained for making a cruel joke on QQ about the Yueqing victim of the Didi murder.

Update: On Monday afternoon, the Bozhou police department responded to the matter via social media, stating the case is currently under investigation.

By Manya Koetse, with thanks to @sanverde
Follow @whatsonweibo

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*Bozhou and Suzhou are not near to each other; Bozhou is located in Anhui Province, while Suzhou is in China’s Jiangsu Province. It is not known why the Suzhou Police department first picked up this story.

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