如果政策允许 你会要第二胎吗?

必需承认，我们的国家人实在是太多了。计划生育实行以来，人口的增长被控制了，但人口比例失调和老龄化问题又成了社会不稳定的巨大隐忧。今年有两会委员提议放开生二胎政策，引起很大的争论。如果政策允许，你，愿意要第二个孩子吗？

The proposal is from Wang Yuqing, a deputy director of the Committee of Population, Resources and Environment.

He is being quoted as saying he favors a gradual opening of a two-child per family policy, and says he believes the current limitations will be lifted by the end of the five-year plan in 2015.

The current family planning policy was initiated in 1979 to control China's rapidly growing population.

But some negative side effects have emerged, including a rapidly aging population.

Peng Xizhe is the Director of the Institute of Population Research at Fudan University.

"The one-child policy has fulfilled the goal initially set. Negative effects will pile up if it continues."

The President of Renmin University, Ji Baocheng, claims the labor force population between the ages of 28 and 40 will be halved in 10 years.

As an example, in Shanghai, which has the highest urban population in China, the number of Shanghai natives -- as in those with a Hukou -- has actually been dropping for the last 17 years in a row, even though the city's population has been increasing.

A possible reason for Shanghai parents not choosing to have a second child could be the rising cost of everyday expenses, particularly the cost of education.

"I don't think I'll have a second child if the limit is removed. I'm simply a wage-earner, and I find it difficult enough to raise one child, so I won't consider the second."

But at the same time, there are still people who think it would be nice to have two children.

"I will think about it. A lot of parents now are the only child in families, to have two kids means they can look after each other in the future, and of course, there'll be financial burden."

One-Child Policy has been relaxed in certain ways over the years.

In cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, if a couple is both the product of the one-child policy, they're allowed to have two kids.

Certian ethnic minority groups have been exempt from the rules entirely.

And families in rural areas whose first child is a girl are also allowed to have a second child without punishment.
 
It remains unclear as to how the proposed two-child policy will work, though it's being suggested that several big cities will be selected to try it before it's brought in around the country.

For CRI, I'm Wang Jing.