Social cost of upbringing needs review

At the end of 2013, the Chinese movie director Zhang Yimou and his wife Chen Ting admitted in a television interview they had breached the family planning regulations by giving birth to three children. The couple said they made a mistake and are willing to correct it by cooperating with the Wuxi Family Planning Committee and paying the social cost of upbringing - she hui fu yang fei - which it is estimated will be a record high of 7 million yuan ($1.15 million).

What is the social cost of upbringing and does it have reasonable grounds to exist? According to the official explanation, since China is a country with a huge population but limited natural resources, an excessive increase in the population would impose a burden on society as a whole that would eventually be too heavy to bear, impeding China's development into a prosperous and industrialized country. Accordingly, since children consume social resources and public services, parents should pay to offset the costs caused by any children not allowed under the family planning policy.

However, there are several issues arising from collecting payments intended to cover the social cost of upbringing, and it is time to take a closer look at the system.