China Keeps Fines for One-Child Policy Even after Rule Change

(Beijing) – Seven-year-old Miao Miao has grown up invisible in her own country.

The second child of her family, her birth broke family planning rules that used to limit most families in China's cities to one baby. Youngsters in those cases are deprived of hukou, a government "household registration" document that allows people to receive public services, such as schooling and health care.

Even after the Communist Party declared an end to the one-child policy in October, families who broke the rules before the change still need to pay a hefty fine to register their children for hukou.