Shanxi family planning group remove the two words “plan” from the “family planning”

Shanxi Province, China, recently changed the name of its leading group on population and family planning to “Population and Family Planning Policy Guarantee Group”, taking the lead in dropping the word “planning” from “family planning”. Scholars say Shanxi is conducting a “pilot program” and that the final decision rests with the CPC Central Committee.

China’s rapidly declining birth rate and aging population pose a major problem for the authorities. In the first half of this year, the Chinese government has adjusted the family planning policy several times, from three children per couple to four children per couple in less than three months, which has aroused heated debate on the Internet.

In early September, the shanxi provincial government changed the name of the “Shanxi Leading Group on Population and Family Planning” to “Shanxi Leading Group on Population and Family Planning Policy”, a move that sparked renewed debate. Chinese scholar Wei Xin told the BBC on Monday that the shanxi government took the lead in removing the word “planning” from “family planning” because it was simply adjusting its policy in the face of an aging population.

“Shanxi, an inland province with declining resources, faces the pain of population decline and loss. The fact that she first changed the informal, but in fact indicative, family planning group to the family security group represents a strong sense of anxiety within Chinese politics. You can see it in the name change of the leading group.”

After the name change, Shanxi Province population and fertility work leading group leader by governor LAN Foan, vice leader by vice governor Wu Wei. With the change of the name of Shanxi Population and Family Planning Group, its municipal and county governments, committees, offices, departments and bureaus all changed their names accordingly. According to a notice issued by the General Office of the Shanxi provincial government, the group’s function is to “strengthen overall planning, policy coordination and promote the implementation of work; To study and put forward major policies and measures of population work, and to provide opinions and suggestions for provincial government decision-making; We will urge and inspect the implementation of relevant family planning policies and the completion of tasks, and coordinate and resolve difficult issues in the implementation of the policies.”

Many netizens commented on the Shanxi provincial government’s decision to abandon the name of the family planning department. “Will compulsory birth control start?” wrote netizen on Weibo. ‘The local population problem is estimated to be very serious,’ another netizen wrote. ‘From making every effort not to give birth in the past to racking their brains to give birth again, how did these officials change their minds?’