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Chapter 2 Fertility

Article 5 Couples are encouraged to defer marriage and childbearing. Deferred marriage refers to first marriage in which the couples are three years older than their respective legal ages for marriage and deferred childbearing refers to first childbirth given by women of 24 years of age or over. Marriage and childbirth before the legal age are prohibited. Out-of-plan births are also prohibited as well as illegal adoption of children and sending away of children for adoption by other people.

Article 6 One rural couple can have one child. Those who meet any one of the following conditions, subject to application and approval, can have a second birth:

1. Both parties are only child in their respective family and they have only one child;

2. Their only child is diagnosed of having a non-genetic disease and unable to grow up to be a normal laborer;

3. Either party is infertile but the wife becomes pregnant after having adopted a child legally;

4. The couple has only one child, with either party being the only child of a martyr;

5. The couple has only one child, with either party having disability of second-class first-degree and above as a result of duty-related injury;

6. Remarried couples with the total number of children from previous marriages not exceeding one;

7. Both parties are returned Chinese from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, live in this province for less than six years and have only one child;

8. The couple has only one child, with either party being the only child of a family with only one child for two generations;

9. The couple has only one child and none of the husband's brothers has a child or is fecund;

10. The couple has only one child and the husband lives with and takes care of his parents-in-law who have no son;

11. The couple has only one child and lives in a township with a population density of less than 50 persons/sq. km and a per capita land of over two mu or a per capita forestland of over 30 mu;

12. Miners who work in the well for more than five years in a row and still work there, or couples who live in a village where unplanned birth is brought under effective control and who are both farmers or fishermen and have only a female child. Adopted, sent-away and abandoned children are included in the number of children referred to in this regulation, unless stipulated otherwise.

Article 7 Couples who have only one child, with either or both parties being employees of government agencies, enterprises and institutions or urban residents, and who want to have a second birth, shall be treated in accordance with Clauses 1-7 and 12 of Article 6.

Article 8 In addition to Articles 6 and 7, returned overseas Chinese who meet any one of the following conditions, subject to application and approval, can have another child:

1. The wife was already pregnant at the time of entry;

2. Both parties have returned for less than six years and have only one child;

3. All their children live abroad with no one living with them.

4. Spouses of returned overseas Chinese who live permanently in this province shall be treated in accordance with Clause 3 of Article 8.

Article 9 Ethnic minority couples (excluding Zhuang people) with both parties being farmers or employees of government agencies, enterprises, institutions or urban residents at ethnic-inhabited townships or villages, can have two children in a planned way. Those who meet any one of the following conditions, subject to application and approval, can have another birth:

1. Both parties are the only child of their respective family;

2. One of the two children is diagnosed of having non-genetic defects and unable to grow up to be a normal laborer;

3. Remarried couples with the total number of their children from previous marriages not exceeding two.

Couples with one party being Han and the other ethnic (excluding Zhuang people) who live in ethnic-inhabited villages or townships, and couples with the party of Han origin married to that of ethnic minority origin and with their children being designated as ethnic, shall be treated in accordance with Article 9.

Article 10 Couples who meet the requirements for the first child shall apply to their employer or villages'/residents' committee and the latter shall report their application to the family planning authorities at the township government or neighborhood committee. Those who meet the conditions of Articles 6-9 and want to have a second or third child shall apply to the township/town government or neighborhood committee and get approval from the family planning authorities at county/city/prefectural level. Those who have a birth interval of over four years and whose applications have been approved shall be granted a birth permit.

Non-genetic defects referred to in Clause 2 of Article 6 and Clause 2 of Article 9 shall be identified by medical institutions above municipal/regional level; infertility and infecundity referred to in Clauses 3 and 9 shall be identified by medical institutions above county/city/ prefectural level.

Article 11 Efforts shall be made to advocate healthy childbirth and rearing and promote pre-marital health examination. Relevant departments shall offer counseling about pre-marital health care and healthy childbirth, improve health care of newborns and infants and provide medical services to women who suffer from infertility.

Article 12 Couples who are diagnosed by hospitals above county level of having disease that may result in serious genetic defects of their child shall be forbidden to have a child. Either one party of them shall have sterilization and those who are already pregnant shall terminate pregnancy. No institutions or individuals shall be allowed to conduct fetus identification for pregnant women unless stipulated otherwise by the state.