Editor's note: 

Thirty-one years ago, China introduced its family planning policy, conventionally misrepresented in the Western media as ‘one-child policy,’ in a bid to curb the population's pressure on the environment and resources, as well as to raise the people’s quality of life. It officially restricts urban couples  of China's dominant Han people, not minority ethnic groups, to having only one child, while allowing exemptions in certain cases.

Under the compulsory policy, 400 million people have been prevented from being added to the China’s population within three decades. But problems such as an aging population and skewed sex ratio have also emerged with this policy.   

Although the policy is becoming more flexible in allowing a second child, it will remain unchanged in the coming decades.

As the global population will hit 7 billion at the end of this October, we take a brief look at the population-related events that make headlines in China.

Editor: Quan Li

 Gone, the slogans 

Driving through China's countryside a decade ago, it was not uncommon to see harsh-sounding family-planning slogans painted on the sides of buildings. This is particulary obvious in underveloped, remote regions where an entrenched value  holds that "having no male heir is the gravest of the three cardinal offences against filial piety."

In recent years, as the government advocates a people-first philosophy in governance, those slogans disappear quickly and some can only be found on photos.

“No one can ever escape punishment on having illegal children."

"The more children you have, the more money you lose."

"Abortion is encouraged, children are never welcomed.”

 Coming, the challenges 

The traditional preference for sons over daughters has led to the abuse of sex-selective abortion, especially in rural areas.

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