We live in an interesting time. It has become clear that many Hong Kong couples would rather have a pet than a child. Small families are now the norm: a 2022 survey by the Family Planning Association showed that childless families made up 43.2 per cent of the population, followed by one-child families at 27.4…
More than 2,300 years ago, Aristotle mused in Politics that to live alone, a man must be a god or a beast, or words to that effect. I wonder what he would have thought of the popularity of China’s “Are You Dead?” app. For Aristotle, we are social animals, thriving in the “polis” in the…
In the central Chinese province of Hubei, one small city is going the extra mile to reverse falling birth rates. Grass-roots volunteers in Tianmen are playing matchmaker for its young singles, combing through the details of all unmarried people in the area, putting the information on community posters and offering their services, according to Guangzhou-based…
For 32-year-old Tracy Li, marriage and childbearing have never been essential life choices. Instead of following the traditional path of starting a family like most of her elders, the human resources manager at a Beijing-based company prefers the solitary life. “The cost of giving birth is apparently too high for women, which is leading to…