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One Child Policy Ignites Riots in Guangxi

Laura Robertson

CBN News

May 23, 2007

A recent crackdown of the one child policy sparked a four-day riot in Guangxi Province, located in southwestern China. Several thousand citizens rioting in Bobai Township destroyed government buildings, burned and overturned vehicles, and had numerous clashes with the police.

While details from the riots remain unconfirmed, according to various bystanders, between two and five people died. Reuters describes how one protester even had a brick thrown at his head from a government building.

The Guardian reports that the final catalyst which started the riots was probably a poor farmer whose house was bulldozed after he couldn't pay the fine. When he went to the government office, they broke his fingers.

Though the one-child policy was introduced in 1979, Bobai county wasn't enforcing it as strictly as others. About two months ago, the Chinese government began cracking down on the one-child policy, forcing Bobai officials to take action. Even though several Bobai residents have already suffered financial consequences because of their children, they're once again paying the price.

One participant told The Guardian that the local government demanded 2000 RMB for having 3 sons in the 1980s. His uncle with 5 children only makes 1200 RMB per month, but officials required him to pay 20,000 RMB. If you can't pay, "the officials come to your home and confiscate the contents. If you refuse, then smash, smash, smash."

The New York Times reports that some of the fines are even as high as 70,000 RMB, which is about $9,000.

In addition to smashing houses, some still force women to have abortions if their pregnancy hasn't been approved by the government. According to Free Republic, in April about 61 women had forced abortions, even up to seven or nine months into pregnancy.

Officials have a financial incentive to carry out the policy, which helps them justify some of these actions. The Bobai government has allegedly collected about 7.8 million RMB, about 1 million USD in social child-raising fees between February and April.

But despite the fundraising, many officials are not happy with the work they do. Mrs. Luo, one of the Bobai officials told The Guardian, "I hate this job, but I have no choice."

Perhaps the saddest part of this whole riot (or "mass incident" as the Chinese like to call it) remains the fact that there doesn't appear a way to break the cycle, or to reform the system effectively.

In some ways, it seems that this government crackdown of the one-child policy has actually had the opposite effect than its intention. Instead of reinforcing the government dominance, it's actually caused the peasants to unite against it. Furthermore, the power of the Internet has empowered people to express their grievances to the outside world through chat rooms and websites.

Though this is only one incident, the number of "mass incidents" in China has risen steadily to 87,000 in 2006. Chances are, with the Olympics shining a global spotlight on China, there will probably be more media coverage of these events in the upcoming months.