Chinese family of 10 defies 'one-child rule' in country
Johannesburg, Dec. 15 (ANI)
A Chinese family having 10 children has defied the 'one-child' rule in the nation.
While the rule has numerous critics, perhaps none have so emphatically defied the policy as a couple who have accumulated four boys and four girls, some born to two surrogate mothers.
The one-child policy was imposed three decades ago to limit growth in China's population, now the largest in the world at 1.35 billion, but critics say it is no longer needed, while there are some loopholes parents can try to exploit, News24 reports.
According to the report, however, the Guangdong couple's violation appeared exceptional, not only in the number of children involved but also the various gaps they sought to use.
Authorities are calculating how high a fine to impose on the family, described as "rich merchants" in the southern province of Guangdong, state media said on Friday, estimating that it could reach 10 times their annual income, the report said.
While the triplets born to the mother via artificial insemination were deemed legal, they were delivered in Hong Kong - a popular option for wealthy Chinese who want to secure residency there for their children and evade the mainland China quota, the report said.
"The octuplet parents are high-income, plus they had five excess children. This has an extremely negative influence and the fine amount should be correspondingly high," the Southern Daily cited a family planning expert as saying.
The children were all born within two months of each other in 2010, after the couple had difficulty conceiving, the report added.