In fact, the one-child policy is a misnomer. Nine categories of Chinese citizens, including rural couples whose first child is female, can legally have more than one. That allows for loopholes, especially as population mobility has weakened enforcement. Government workers risk getting fired if they break the rules, but other wealthy city dwellers have multiple strategies for “extra births,” including paying fees, hiring surrogate mothers and giving birth in Hong Kong or in foreign countries.
The government is especially sensitive about corrupt officials’ abusing their ill-gotten wealth for extra kids. Between 2000 and 2005 in Hunan province alone (population: 66 million), 1,968 officials defied family-planning regulations, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. One senior parliamentarian had four mistresses and four children. Provincial authorities are now proposing to fine violators up to eight times the average per capita income as punishment. With so much at stake, the Zhang scandal is turning into much more than just another case of sex, lies and videotape.
