The girl with no identity: Being a second child in China
This article is about a girl who was born in China as a second child. In many other countries, not being the first child would hold no significance but China has a strict one-child policy. This policy was created to limit China's increasing population. This policy leads many families to have no choice but abortion or to pay hefty fines. In this article Li Xue's story is told.Because Li's family could not afford the fines for having an additional child, she was not given her "hukou", household registration documents which grant city residents with subsidized health, housing, and education. She has always been interested in learning, but can not attend school because she isn't the first/only child in her family. Going around this, she would borrow books and receive lessons from her older sister who could attend school. If she is sick, she has no choice but to borrow either her mother's or sister's identity cards to buy medicine for herself. The Chinese government is contemplating a less strict version of the policy in the future, possibly a two-child policy. Although still unfair, any progress is good in the eyes of many Chinese citizens.
It is really sad that people are denied basic rights. I agree that overpopulation is bad but restricting the number of children a family can have is unfair. It would be really hard to be denied basic rights such as healthcare when the rest of your family can receive them. It is good that the Chinese government is trying to loosen these laws after three decades of them in place.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/10/world/asia/china-second-child/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
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