Out of all the tours guides we have had, Tony definitely had the best English. We had a nice chat while enjoying our tea at the Terracotta Warriors Teahouse, and I learned two interesting things from him.
First, there is a saying in Chinese that Xian represents the past of the country, Beijing the present, and Shanghai the future. Having been to all three cities, I couldn’t agree more.
Secondly, he cleared up some misconceptions I had about China’s one-child policy. Contrary to popular belief, abortions are not paid for by the government. Having a second child is punishable by fine, and that fine is way more than I would have guessed—it’s something like $20,000 USD. Tony was a planned second child (he has an older sister, and his father wanted a boy) and instead of paying the fine his mother gave up her job as a weaver. I guess they saw that as equivalent retribution. To get past the huge inequality of the number of Chinese women compared to the number of Chinese men (there are millions more men than women in this country because traditionally boys are considered more valuable than girls) couples are not allowed to find out the sex of their baby before birth. It’s not a choice for them---doctors are not allowed to tell them the sex of their baby before it’s born, that way girls cannot be aborted just because they’re girls. Finally, the government is getting more lax with the policy and if two only-children get married they are allowed to have two children. But, if two people who have siblings get married, they are only allowed to have one child. I’m not sure what the deal is if an only-child marries a person who has siblings. Maybe they are allowed 1.5 children.
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