April 10, 2011

We had an incredible day today as we visited a rural village and school.  Pictured are brothers Wong Er Hu & Wong Dai Bu  (Chinese say their family name first).  In China, there is a rule that you can have only one child.  But there are exceptions.  For example, if both parents are from a single child family, they may have a second child.  Also, minority populations do not have to practice the one child rule.  And as is the case with these two brothers, their parents are permitted to have more than one child because they live in the rural farm area.  Because many young adult people are fleeing from the farm areas to the cities for work, the population of villages such as their's is dropping steadily.  In fact, this school of 108 elementary students (grades 1-6) will be consolidating with two other shrinking elementary schools in the next year.  Losing population in farm areas poses a great concern with maintaining an adequate food supply for China.  Therefore, the Chinese government has eased the restriction of one child in rural farm areas.  Still, many of these very poor families cannot afford to have more than one child in the family.  And arguably, most of the families I met today can hardly afford to raise even one child...