Lonely Generation

In 1978, the Chinese Constitution stipulated that family planning be advocated and implemented. Four years later, family planning became a national policy. In 2018, the National Health and Family Planning Commission was given a new name – the National Health Commission – after China’s new State Council took office. Two years ago, China ended the one-child policy, allowing couples to have two children if they wish. Over the past 40 years, 150 million families in China were single-child families, who grew up lonely, lost and amid great controversy over the policy. By the end of 2010, at least one million Chinese families had lost their only child, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. What’s more, a great number of illegitimate children live without an official identity. It tests policy-makers’ wisdom and conscience to properly treat illegitimate children and parents who have lost their only child.