Most Expensive Baby in China

Man fined $78,000 for second baby

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A private businessman has been fined 600,000 yuan ($78,000) for breaking China's strict one child policy, state media reported.

Xinhua News Agency said family planning officials in Anhui province handed out the fine. It did not identify the businessman or say how he broke the law.

China's family planning policy, implemented in the late 1970s, limits most urban couples to one child and rural families to two in an attempt to control population growth and conserve natural resources in the world's most populous country.

Rising incomes mean some newly rich can afford to break the rules and pay resulting fines. But last month the government said it would crack down on rich lawbreakers with bigger fines.

China has about 1.3 billion people, 20 percent of the world's total. The government has pledged to keep the population under 1.36 billion in 2010, and under 1.45 billion in 2020.

My Chinese tutor told me about this. It was making headlines because it is the most any person has paid to have a second baby. It’s not really a “fine” so much as a “fee.” You often pay the fee before the baby is born. It is completely legal to have a second child if you pay for it. The fees/fines are based on a percentage of your income. This is why my friend Xie Ping cannot have a second child even though she really wants one. I feel bad for her. I can understand wanting a second child. I mean, she has a brother, it makes sense that she would want her son to have a sibling. I wonder what the rules are on adoption?