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China's one child policy has been in place since 1979. But for some Mainland families, they try to get around the law by having their second child in Hong Kong where it is legal. But now Mainland officials are cracking down on the move... threatening families with hefty fines.
Chinese authorities are out to stop families from bypassing the country's one child policy. On Tuesday, Chinese media reported that mainland Chinese parents will be fined if they try to have a second child in Hong Kong. Government officials also attempting to breach the law will be fired from their posts. That's according to the director of the family planning department in neighboring Guangdong Province, Zhang Feng.
Zhang said several women had already been fined after returning home from Hong Kong. He did not say how much they had been fined, but the Guangdong website said fines could be as high as six times the per capita income of the violators' hometowns.
Hong Kong maternity wards have been booked through August this year, and recent complaints from citizens and hospitals have put pressure on the Hong Kong government to reduce the number of Mainlanders' births. For 2012, the number of Mainland women allowed to give birth in the city has been capped at about 34,000.
Babies born to Mainland parents accounted for over one third of all births in Hong Kong last year. By law, these children automatically receive permanent residency rights and 12 years of free education.
The Chinese regime's controversial one-child policy was started in 1979 to limit the number of births in the world's most populous nation.
