Many Chinese are pleased with the recent announcement that their government will further loosen the country's one-child policy. Some couples there are already allowed to have two children, while others say that even if they are permitted to have another kid, they can't afford it.
A young, professional couple surnamed Gao and Deng went to a government office in Shanghai earlier this month to apply for a marriage license.
Waiting on a metal bench, Gao, the 30-year-old groom-to-be, said he was glad more couples will be able to have a second child.
"I think for people like us who were born after 1980s, this is a very good policy change," Gao said. "Now, if families are financially capable and conditions allow, they should totally have two children."
Deng, the bride-to-be, who wore a long pink dress, said the couple hopes to have two children.
"They can help each other and grow up together," she said. "When we get older, they can take care of each other."
In fact, Deng and Gao are already permitted to have two children.
A Steady Policy Evolution
More than a decade ago, the government began allowing couples to have two kids if both parents were only-children. It's a reminder that China has been easing its one-child policy over the years.
Officials took a further step in that direction this month, announcing that if just one parent is an only child, a couple can have a second child as well.
That's an incremental change, but many see it as progress after years of lobbying.
Wang Feng, a leading demographer in China and a sociologist at the University of California, Irvine, has spent more than a decade urging Chinese officials to change the one-child policy. Until relatively recently, he said, the topic was too sensitive for public discussion.
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