Slogans for family planning need to be updated

Two-child messages recommended to encourage couples to have a second baby

People view an exhibition of posters on the country's one-child policy in the 1980s. XINHUA

Solemn-faced couples holding a hammer and a sickle were a common sight in the early 1980s, when China introduced its one-child policy. They looked out of posters above a red slogan proclaiming, "Controlled population, planned growth".

More than three decades later, Chinese newspapers are displaying photos of smiling parents carrying two infants with the banner "Home with two kids".

In January, China ended its one-child policy and allowed all couples to have two children. The new policy is expected to bring sweeping social changes.

But the slogans have yet to catch up with the new family-planning regimen, said members of China's top advisory body.

Zhu Lianqing, along with 40 other members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, offered a proposal to modernize outdated slogans promoting birth control and improve family planning services to boost fertility during the CPPCC's annual meeting in March.