One woman leads a team at a financial firm and earns more than her husband. Another is pursuing her dream of becoming a civil servant. And yet another is a budding internet celebrity hoping to support her family on her own.
The three women each have just one child and do not want to have any more — regardless of the opinions of their husbands or the incentives from a Chinese government concerned about its aging population.
ChinaOnly ChildThe era of the policy is gone forever. In a recent collective talk with the leaders of the All-China Women’s Federation, President Xi Jinping urged women to take on greater family responsibilities and “pay attention to the unique role of women in promoting the family virtues of the Chinese nation and establishing a good family tradition.”. ”
These women see themselves as taking on different roles. Born into small families, with many girls being the only child, this generation has been afforded opportunities that were once reserved for boys. Their own mothers, who did not have many children to care for, often worked outside the home and set the same example for their daughters.
“I have to have my own career.”
Joyce Zhao, 29, project manager
Joyce Zhao had been a project manager for three years at a small Beijing technology company and was expected to be promoted. But when she became pregnant with her son, Xiaoming, her career prospects dimmed.
Her boss, a woman who had long advocated for her to take on a leadership role, left the team during Zhao’s five-month maternity leave. When she returned to work, her new boss told her she was falling behind and needed to work harder.
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“I was drowning in self-doubt and wondering if having a baby at this time was a mistake,” said Joyce Zhao.
But, she said, she never considered quitting her job and staying home.
“I can only rely on myself,” Zhao said. “I have to have my own career and can’t give it up for anything.”
A few months after Xiao Ming’s first birthday, 29-year-old Joyce Zhao decided to leave the company and took a job at one of China’s largest technology companies.
Her husband wanted a second child, but Joyce Zhao wasn’t interested. Her day was hard enough. Her commute was four hours, and her long workday meant that by the time she got home, Xiao Ming was already in bed. She woke up at 6:30 a.m., giving herself an hour to read and exercise, and another hour to play with her son and eat breakfast.
After graduating from college, Joyce Zhao gave up her dream of becoming a civil servant to pursue a higher-paying job. Now, after getting married and having a child, she plans to take the notoriously difficult civil service exam.
“I divide my time, energy and money into different parts, keeping the biggest part for myself and leaving the rest for my parents, husband and son,” Zhao said. “I can’t let them take up all of me.”
“I don’t think there’s any benefit to having two kids.”
Guo Chunlei, 32 years old, internet celebrity
Before she got married, Guo worked at a bank in the eastern city of Hangzhou, earning about 14,000 yuan a month, good by Chinese standards. Her parents bought her a small apartment and a car, so she spent most of her salary on beauty, fashion and travel.
In 2022, when she decided to have a baby, her husband and parents-in-law encouraged her to change to a less busy job so that she could have more time to take care of the baby. Her parents-in-law ran a thriving family business in the construction industry. Guo Chunlei agreed and joined a listed company as an accountant. However, it was a boring job with no sense of fulfillment, and her income was only about one-third of what it used to be.
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The drastic reduction in salary became a growing problem. As her daughter Tianyi grew up, expenses began to soar. Early childhood education courses alone took up a third of her salary.
Seeking extra income and a sense of achievement, Guo opened a parenting account on lifestyle app Xiaohongshu last year. A post she wrote about planning a traditional Chinese birthday party for her daughter garnered tens of thousands of views and opened doors for her to work with brands.
She now spends her weeknights writing copy, editing photos and doing product research, while taking photos with Tianyi at a nearby park has become a family activity on weekends.
Guo Chunlei’s account has accumulated more than 10,000 followers, and her income from product sponsorships exceeds that of a full-time job. She is considering becoming a full-time influencer and hopes to become the main source of income for her family.
Guo Chunlei recalled the sacrifices her parents made to raise her and her brother, which made her determined to take a different path.
“I felt having two children would not be good for Tianyi or me,” she said.
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“I want to make a difference.”
Tang Pingjun, 36, financial manager
Like many working women in China today, 36-year-old Tang Pingjun has higher ambitions than many of her predecessors.
She recalls growing up under the previous one-child policy, with the undivided attention of her father, a train driver, and her mother, a teacher. Like many girls of her generation, she was afforded opportunities that were once reserved for boys.
When it came time to go to college, Tang traveled hundreds of kilometers from home to pursue a degree in mathematics, a field dominated by men. (Today, nearly a third of Chinese women have a college degree, compared with less than 1% in 1990.)
After graduation, Tang Pingjun found a job in the financial industry, and at the age of 25, she took a year off and used her savings to travel to more than a dozen countries. Now 36, she leads a team at a private financial company in Guangzhou. She lives in the bustling metropolis of Guangzhou with her husband and 4-year-old daughter Xiaoning (sound).
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Tang Pingjun earns more than her husband and makes investment decisions for the family.
Six months after Xiao Ning was born, Tang Pingjun returned to work and left the child to be taken care of by her grandmother. On weekends, the family likes to “staycation” in luxury hotels.
Lately, she has been considering accepting a promising job offer in the nearby city of Shenzhen, which would likely mean being separated from her family. Her husband and parents-in-law are against it, but she doesn’t want to be held back. She said she hasn’t completely ruled out having a second child, but it’s not something she’s considering right now.
“I feel a little selfish putting myself before my family, but life is long and I want to make a difference,” she said.