China Bans Crude One-Child Slogans
China has banned crude and insensitive slogans such as ‘Raise fewer babies but more piggies’ that have stoked rural anger over the country’s strict family planning policy, state media said on Sunday.
Slogans such as ‘One more baby means one more tomb’ have been forbidden, and a list of 190 acceptable slogans were issued by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Such slogans are often found painted on roadside buildings in rural areas.
A generation after being imposed, China’s population control policies continue to engender anger and resentment, especially among the largely rural country’s farmers.
Such anger extends beyond the slogans to the sometimes brutal methods used to enforce the policy, such as heavy fines, seizure of property and forced sterilizations or abortions.
Local authorities themselves face demotions, criticism or the loss of jobs if they fail to hit population targets.
The Chinese government contends the one-child policy has helped prevent at least 300 million births - about the size of the US population - and aided China’s recent, rapid economic development.
Date: August 5, 2007
Article: China bans insensitive one-child slogans
Reference: BBC News