China Daily, June 13: Recently, the 20th Central Finance and Economics Affairs Committee held its first meeting, emphasizing the importance of maintaining moderate fertility levels and population size to support China’s unique approach to modernization.
中国日报6月13日电 近期,二十届中央财经委员会召开第一次会议,提出要努力保持适度生育水平和人口规模,以人口高质量发展支撑中国式现代化。
The China Family Planning Association announced the second batch of pilot projects for building a marriage and childbearing culture in the new era at a recent event. The association pointed out that as China’s population growth pattern had formed a new normality, it was essential to reduce the cost of childbearing, education, and upbringing, and at the same time strongly promote a marriage and childbearing culture in the new era, thereby creating a social environment friendly to childbearing families.
中国计划生育协会在近日举行的活动上公布了第二批新时代婚育文化建设试点项目。协会指出我国人口发展进入新常态,在降低生育养育教育成本的同时,应大力推进新时代婚育文化建设,营造生育友好的社会氛围。
What changes have China’s marriage and childbearing culture undergone in recent years? What does the “marriage and childbearing culture in the new era” entail? And how will it help promote the desired fertility levels and population size in China?
我国婚育文化近些年经历了什么样的变化?“新时代婚育文化”有哪些内涵?又将如何帮助促进我国实现适度的生育水平和人口规模?
Wang Pei’an, Deputy Director of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on Population, Resources, and Environment, and Executive Vice President of China Family Planning Association, recently answered these questions in an exclusive interview with China Daily.
近日,十三届全国政协人口资源环境委员会副主任、中国计划生育协会常务副会长王培安就前述问题接受中国日报专访。
China Daily: What changes have taken place in China’s marriage and childbearing culture in recent years? What are the underlying causes?
中国日报:我国婚育文化近些年发生了什么样的变化?背后有哪些原因?
Wang Pei’an: Marriage and childbearing culture is an intrinsic force that governs people’s behaviors in these areas. It is a profound and fundamental factor influencing their decisions on marriage and childbearing. Overall, the younger generation’s views on marriage and childbearing are changing. Getting married and having children later in life and preferring fewer and healthier births are now widely accepted concepts among most youths. At the same time, there is an increasing trend of couples opting to not have children, individuals choosing not to marry or bear children, and rising divorce rates. People are less inclined to see childbearing as an inevitable life choice.
王培安:婚育文化是支配人们婚育行为的内生动力,是影响婚育行为的深层次、根本性因素。总体来看,当前年轻一代婚育观念正在发生改变,晚婚晚育、少生优生等观念被多数青年所接受。同时只婚不育、不婚不育和离婚家庭也出现增多的现象。人们对生育的期望值下降,在部分人心中生育不再被视为人生的必然选择。
A survey conducted by the Family Planning Association on university students’ views on marriage and childbearing shows that “stability in both marriage and career” has become the most crucial prerequisite for childbirth. The idea of “having a stable career before starting a family” is a target pursued by both genders. Moreover, most students no longer see divorce as a source of shame. The views of university students differ significantly from the married population, indicating a conceptual shift toward a “low intrinsic desire for childbearing”. They seek deeper personal fulfillment and the experience of a joyous life along their marriage and childbearing journey.
中国计生协组织的大学生婚育观念调查显示,“婚姻和事业的稳定”成为最重要的生育必备条件,“先立业后成家”成为男女共同的追求,大部分大学生不再视离婚为羞耻。大学生群体与当前已婚群体的观念已经出现很大差别,逐渐进入到“内生自主性低生育”。他们在婚育中追求更深刻的自我价值的实现和幸福生活的体验。
Several primary reasons account for these shifts in marriage and childbearing culture:
婚育文化变化的主要原因之一是:
1. With socio-economic development, people spend more time on education, which heavily impacts young people’s marriage and childbearing plans. Most women find it challenging to balance child-rearing with career growth, leading to childbirth anxieties, a significant factor contributing to these changing perceptions.
随着经济社会发展,人们受教育时间延长,对年轻人的婚育计划和安排产生较大影响,多数女性难以平衡生育养育与职业发展的关系,产生生育焦虑,成为导致婚育观念和行为变化的重要因素之一。
2. The spread of individualistic values has led many young people to view marriage and childbearing as personal affairs. They are putting more value on personal growth, freedom, and self-realization rather than traditional family values.
二是随着个人至上观念的扩散,许多年轻人将婚育看成个人私事,更强调个人发展、自由和价值的实现,弱化了家庭生育观念及行为。
3. Modern society’s high demands on workforce quality have increased the cost of upbringing, causing people to invest more resources in their children, therefore making its cost a major burden for families. At the same time, the cost of marriage, housing, and education, have also been rising steadily.
三是现代化社会对劳动力素质的高要求导致养育成本的攀升,人们倾向于将更多资源投放在子女身上,抚养孩子的成本成为家庭的主要负担之一。同时,婚嫁、住房、教育等成本也逐渐攀升。
4. The traditional roles of family in elderly care and child upbringing are diminishing, resulting in an increase in non-traditional families like those of older singles, cohabitants, and childless couples. The family unit is also decreasing in its size. In 2020, the average household size in China dropped to 2.62 people, a decrease of 0.82 people since 2000.
四是家庭养老抚幼功能弱化冲击着我国传统家庭文化,大龄单身、同居、丁克等非传统家庭逐渐增加,家庭规模小型化趋势日益明显。2020年,我国平均家庭户人口规模降至2.62人,较2000年减少了0.82人。
China Daily: What is the background for proposing the “Marriage and Childbearing Culture in the New Era”? What does it mainly include?
中国日报: “新时代婚育文化”是在什么背景下提出的?它主要包含哪些方面?
Wang Pei’an: One of the contexts for proposing the “Marriage and Childbearing Culture in the New Era” is the changing landscape of population growth. On the one hand, having a vast population size is a distinctive feature of our country. On the other hand, however, our population growth shows trends of fewer children, aging, and regional population disparity. “Fewer births and aging” have become the new normal in our population growth and will become the undertone of China’s socialist modernization construction and the realization of the second centenary goal. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the population decreased by 850,000 at the end of 2022 compared to the end of the previous year, with a natural growth rate of -0.60‰. This marks the first negative growth in China’s population in over 60 years. Meanwhile, the population aging in China is becoming increasingly serious. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the population aged 60 and above will increase from 264 million in 2020 to 309 million in 2025, accounting for 21.6% of the total population in 2025, compared to 18.4% in 2020. The population aged 80 and above will increase from 35.11 million in 2020 to 42 million in 2025.
王培安:“新时代婚育文化”提出的背景之一是人口发展形势发生变化。一方面,人口规模巨大是我国人口的显著特征,另一方面,我国人口发展呈现少子化、老龄化、区域人口增减分化的趋势性特征。“少子老龄化”成为我国人口发展的新常态,将伴随我国社会主义现代化国家建设和第二个百年奋斗目标实现全过程。根据国家统计局数据,2022年末人口比上年末减少85万人,人口自然增长率为-0.60‰,这是中国人口60多年来首次出现负增长。同时,我国人口老龄化日益严重。“十四五”时期,我国60岁以上人口将由2020年的2.64亿人增加到2025年的3.09亿人,占总人口比重由18.4%增加到21.6%。80岁及以上高龄老年人口将由2020年的3511万人增加到2025年的4200万人。
Second, the fertility level continues to decline. With the development of the economy and society, the younger generation’s views on marriage and childbearing have been rapidly changing. “Getting married and having children later in life, and preferring fewer and healthier births” has become the mainstream understanding of childbearing in China. However, issues like “unwillingness to give birth, fear of giving birth, inability to conceive, and challenges in child-rearing” have become more prominent. Surveys show that the average intended number of children for childbearing-age women to have in China was 1.64 in 2021, lower than 1.76 in 2017 and 1.73 in 2019. As the main childbearing groups, the “post-90s” and “post-00s” generations, their numbers were only 1.54 and 1.48. Judging from the fertility rate changes, China’s overall fertility rate was 2.00 in 1992, 1.77 in 2016 when the “Two-Child Policy” was officially implemented, and this number dropped to 1.15 in 2021.
二是群众生育水平持续走低。随着经济社会发展,年轻一代婚育观念快速转变,“少生、优生、优育”成为社会生育观念主流,“不愿生、不敢生、生不出、生不好”的问题比较突出。调查显示,我国育龄妇女2021年平均打算生育子女数为1.64个,低于2017年的1.76个和2019年的1.73个,而作为生育主体的“90后”、“00后”仅为1.54个和1.48个。从生育率变动来看,我国妇女总和生育率1992年为2.00,在“全面二孩”政策正式实施的2016年为1.77,2021年这一数字下降为1.15。
Third, our people aspire to have a beautiful marriage and family life. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, that “No matter how the time change, or how the economy and society develop themselves, for a society, the family will play an irreplaceable role as people’s foundation of life, a functional part of the society, and a building block of our civilization.” General Secretary Xi Jinping’s statement on the “Three Irreplaceables” of family building comprehensively affirms the unique role of families in elderly care, emotional support, economic support, risk resistance, and more, which neither the state nor society can replace. It also highlights the pivotal role of the family in stimulating social vitality, promoting social production, strengthening social security, improving social governance, and passing on the civilizational heritage of the society. Building a marriage and childbearing culture for the new era, promoting the social value of childbearing, and highlighting the social function of family care for the elderly and children, are representative of a people-centered development philosophy and standpoint, which respond to the public’s aspirations for a better and happier life.
三是群众对美好的婚姻家庭生活充满向往。习近平总书记指出,“无论时代如何变化,无论经济社会如何发展,对一个社会来说,家庭的生活依托都不可替代,家庭的社会功能都不可替代,家庭的文明作用都不可替代。”习近平总书记关于家庭建设的“三个不可替代”的论述,全面肯定了家庭在养老抚幼、情感慰藉、经济支持、抵御风险等方面具有国家和社会无法替代的独特作用,高度概括了家庭在激发社会活力、促进社会生产、强化社会保护、完善社会治理、传承社会文明方面的基石作用。构建新时代婚育文化,弘扬生育的社会价值,强化家庭养老抚幼社会功能,体现了以人民为中心的发展思想和根本立场,呼应了群众对美好幸福生活的向往。
The Central Committee’s “Decision on Improving Birth Policies to Promote Long-Term Balanced Population Growth” suggests that we should promote traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, respect the social value of childbearing, advocate marriage and childbearing at the appropriate age, promote fertility and high-quality childrearing, encourage couples to share child-rearing responsibilities, and abandon old customs like high-priced dowries. This is a systematic and comprehensive interpretation of the marriage and childbearing culture in the new era, as well as the focus of the family planning association system of all levels in their endeavors to promote this culture nationwide. In May 2023, the China Family Planning Association, along with the National Health Commission and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, organized a promotional event with the theme of building a marriage and childbearing culture for the new era. They issued the Call to Action for Building a Marriage and Childbearing Culture in the New Era, which included six aspects, such as valuing marriage and childbearing, respecting the activity of childbearing, marrying and bearing children at the right age, and optimizing fertility and the promoting high-quality childrearing. These discussions cover topics like child-rearing, family education and traditions, traditional virtues, and social morales for the new era, and have received a positive response from all sectors of society.
中央《决定》提出,弘扬中华民族传统美德,尊重生育的社会价值,提倡适龄婚育、优生优育,鼓励夫妻共担育儿责任,破除高价彩礼等陈规陋习。这是对新时代婚育文化较为系统和全面的阐述,也是当前全国各地计生协系统开展婚育文化建设工作的重点内容。2023年5月,中国计生协联合国家卫生健康委、共青团中央举办新时代婚育文化建设主题宣传活动,向全社会发出了《新时代婚育文化建设倡议书》,倡议书包含重视婚育、尊重生育,适龄婚育、优生优育等六个方面的内容,涵盖了生育养育、家教家风、传统美德和新时代风貌等内容,得到社会各界积极响应。
China Daily: The association recently released the Call to Action for Building a Marriage and Childbearing Culture in the New Era, which promotes marrying and bearing children at the appropriate age and a “high quality childrearing” approach. The marriage and childbearing age for modern young people has been significantly postponed. How do you comment on this phenomenon? Many young people say that marrying and having children at the right age means losing opportunities for career and personal development. What is your view on this?
中国日报:协会近期发布的《新时代婚育文化建设倡议书》中提到,提倡适龄婚育,优生优育。现代年轻人的婚育年龄明显推迟,如何看待这一现象?很多年轻人表示,适龄婚育意味着失去职业和个人发展的机会,对此应怎么看?
Wang Pei’an: As industrialization, urbanization, and modernization progress to new levels, the average age for young people to marry and have their first child continues to be postponed. According to statistics, in 2020, the average age of the first marriage for Chinese men and women was 29.4 and 28.0, which is a delay of 3.63 and 3.95 years compared to the number in 2010. There are various reasons why young people are postponing marriage and childbearing, including objective factors such as longer educational commitments and rising costs of marriage and childbearing, as well as subjective reasons, such as their view of marriage and family as constraints, thereby opting for later marriages and births. Additionally, marriage and childbearing may also conflict with employment and career development.
王培安:随着工业化、城镇化、现代化的推进,青年人初婚初育年龄不断推迟。据统计,2020年我国男性和女性人口的平均初婚年龄分别为29.4岁和28.0岁,相比2010年分别推迟了3.63岁和3.95岁。青年人结婚和生育年龄一再推迟,有着多方面的原因,既有受教育年限增加、结婚生育成本升高等客观因素的影响,也有视婚姻生育家庭为约束,主动选择晚婚晚育等主观原因,还和结婚生育与就业和职业发展相冲突的情况有关。
The concern that marrying and having children at the right age means losing opportunities for career and personal development does exist in real life. Childbearing, to some extent, may consume substantial time and energy from young people, especially the time and energy of young women, which can influence their job promotions, career development and even job security. Currently, the state is enhancing the construction of childbearing support policy systems. Various local governments are continually optimizing childbearing leave systems and have introduced a series of economic and time arrangement support measures. All these solutions aim to clear people’s path to marrying and childbearing at the right age, and ensure that young people’s careers and personal developments are minimally affected during the process.
适龄婚育意味着失去职业和个人发展机会的说法或顾虑,在现实生活中的确存在。特别是生育在一定程度上影响青年尤其是女性青年的时间和精力,进而影响到她们的职位晋升和发展,甚至影响就业的稳定性。目前,国家正在加强生育支持政策体系的建设,各地不断优化生育休假制度,相继出台了一系列经济和时间支持措施。这些都是在为适龄婚育保驾护航,使年轻人的职业和个人发展少受影响。
We advocate for marriage and childbearing at the appropriate age, which means encouraging young people to do what they should do at certain age stages: to date when it is time to date, to get married when it is time to marry, and to have children when it is time to have children. Balancing marriage and childbearing at the appropriate age with career development requires, on one hand, refining societal evaluation methods, respecting the societal value of childbearing, and fully recognizing the importance of young people marrying and having children at the right age. On the other hand, it is essential to improve mechanisms where the nation, society, families, and businesses jointly share childbearing costs, and build a childbearing-friendly society. This ensures that businesses will not suffer economic losses from employing childbearing-age individuals, especially women. It alleviates the dilemma women face between childbearing and employment, eliminating the concern and anxiety childbearing-age individuals might have with regard to the possibility of losing opportunities in career and personal development due to having children.
我们倡导适龄婚育,就是鼓励年轻人什么年龄段该干什么就干什么,该恋爱的时候恋爱,该结婚的时候结婚,该生孩子的时候生孩子。兼顾适龄婚育与职业发展,一方面需要完善社会评价方式,尊重生育的社会价值,充分认识年轻人适龄婚育的重要意义;另一方面要完善国家、社会、家庭、企业或单位共同分担的生育成本机制,推动建设生育友好型社会,使企业不因雇佣育龄青年尤其是女性而带来经济上的损失,缓解女性在生育与就业和职业发展之间的矛盾,消除育龄青年因为生育而失去职业和个人发展机会的担心和顾虑。
China Daily: The Call to Action indicates its advocacy of gender equality and shared responsibilities of child-rearing between couples. What does this proposal mean for achieving a moderate level of fertility?
中国日报:《倡议书》指出,要提倡男女平等,育儿责任夫妻共担。这一倡议对实现适度生育水平有何意义?
Wang Pei’an: Gender inequality in the domestic sphere, to some extent, escalates the conflict between work and home responsibilities for employed women. Influenced by traditional Chinese culture, the division of roles with men being the main providers and women responsible for domestic duties has persisted. Employed women face the dual burdens of work and home responsibilities, which increases the opportunity cost of childbearing. Women who are on an upward trajectory in their careers are reluctant or even afraid to have children.
王培安:家庭领域的性别不平等,一定程度上加重了就业女性的家庭—工作冲突。中国社会受传统文化影响,“男主外、女主内”的性别角色分工长期存在。就业女性面临着工作和家庭的双重负担,生育的机会成本上升,处在事业上升期的女性不愿生、不敢生。
International experiences demonstrate that in societies with well-established gender equality, there’s a positive relationship between the degree of gender equality and fertility levels. Gender equality and shared responsibilities will not only strengthen marital bonds and enhance the quality of marriages, providing stable support for childbearing, but will also help reduce domestic burdens and life pressures on women. This allows working women to better balance work and family, increasing their willingness to have children. We need to maximize the positive impact of gender equality on improving fertility levels, making the shared responsibility of child-rearing a societal norm and a common practice. This will help China reach a moderate fertility level and serve as a crucial foundation for high-quality population development.
国际经验表明,在性别平等的成熟阶段,性别平等的程度与生育水平呈正向关系。男女平等、责任共担。一方面,有利于增进夫妻感情,提高婚姻质量,为生育提供稳定的婚姻支持;另一方面,有利于减轻女性的家务负担与生活压力,让职业女性能更好平衡家庭与工作的关系,提升女性的生育意愿。我们要把性别平等对生育水平的正面作用尽可能地释放出来,努力让夫妻共担育儿责任成为全社会共同遵守的价值标准和行为规范,推动实现适度的生育水平,这也是促进人口高质量发展的重要基础工程。
China Daily: Different regions are now actively exploring supportive policies for childbearing, such as offering childbirth allowances, extending maternity and paternity leaves, and establishing inclusive childcare institutions to reduce the costs of childbirth and upbringing. As our future plan is to create a childbearing-friendly society, what other areas of improvement should be emphasized?
中国日报:现在各地正积极探索生育支持政策,实施发放生育津贴、延长产假和陪产假、兴办普惠性托育机构等来降低生育养育成本。下一步建设生育友好型社会,还应该着重完善哪些方面?
Wang Pei’an: Since the 19th Party Congress, the central government has issued the “Decision on Improving Birth Policies to Promote Long-Term Balanced Population Growth”, as well as “Guiding Opinions on Further Improving and Implementing Measures for Supporting Active Childbearing”. Local governments have also introduced various supportive measures, such as including childcare expenses for children under three as a tax deduction factor for personal income tax collection, experimenting with childbirth allowances, child-rearing subsidies, operational subsidies for childcare institutions, extending maternity leave, and introducing paternity leave. However, the effects of these supportive policies for childbearing need time to emerge. We need to be patient in implementing policies and observing their effects, but we must also be proactive. We must strive to promote a childbearing-friendly society to reduce the burdens of child-rearing and education on families and encourage balanced population growth in the long term. Specifically, efforts should focus on six areas:
王培安:党的十九大以来,中央先后印发了《关于优化生育政策促进人口长期均衡发展的决定》《关于进一步完善和落实积极生育支持措施的指导意见》等政策文件,地方也相应出台了一系列生育支持政策,包括3岁以下婴幼儿照护费用纳入个税专项附加扣除、积极探索发放生育津贴、育儿补贴、托育机构运营补贴、普遍延长产假、增设陪产假等。但是,生育支持政策效果的显现是一个缓慢的过程。我们既要有一定的政策耐心,又要踔厉奋发,推动建设生育友好型社会,减轻家庭生育养育教育负担,促进人口长期均衡发展。具体而言,需要从六个方面入手。
First, strengthen economic support. Enhance tax, housing, and other support policies. Prioritize education fairness and balance the supply of high-quality educational resources. Double down on improving the housing support system, develop government-subsidized housing, and alleviate accommodation difficulties faced by new urban residents and young people. Housing policies should favor families with multiple children. We should also establish incentive mechanisms for employers under the rule of law to protect employees’ childbearing rights, and increase financial support for enterprises that provide maternal and infant care, childcare services, related vocational training, and consumer goods.
第一,加大经济支持力度。加强税收、住房等支持政策,推进教育公平与优质教育资源均衡供给,显著减轻家庭生育养育教育负担。加快完善住房保障体系,加快发展保障性租赁住房,促进解决新市民、青年人等群体住房困难。住房政策向多子女家庭倾斜。建立对依法保障职工生育权益用人单位激励机制。向提供母婴护理、托育服务以及相关职业培训、消费品生产的企业加大金融支持力度。
Second, improve the childcare service system. Increase the supply of inclusive childcare services. Expand the capabilities of community childcare services, and improve infant care facilities and other public services. Support qualified businesses in providing welfare-oriented childcare services for employees. Reduce the operational costs of childcare institutions. Improve policies related to land, housing, finance, banking, and talent, and encourage local governments to support inclusive childcare institutions. Enhance the quality of childcare services. Launch dedicated campaigns to establish national demonstration cities for infant and toddler care services. Progressively build a professional qualification entry mechanism for childcare practitioners under the rule of law.
第二,完善托育服务体系。增加普惠托育服务供给。拓展社区托育服务功能,完善婴幼儿照护设施等基本公共服务设施。支持有条件的用人单位为职工提供福利性托育服务。降低托育机构运营成本。完善土地、住房、财政、金融、人才等政策,鼓励地方对普惠托育机构予以支持。提升托育服务质量。深入开展全国婴幼儿照护服务示范城市创建活动。依法逐步实行托育从业人员职业资格准入制度。
Third, optimize support for time arrangements. We should enhance protection during childbirth and child-rearing processes, such as implementing flexible work schedules, to help employees balance work and family relationships and promote fair employment and career development. In accordance with practical circumstances, refine mechanisms for the reasonable sharing of labor costs during leaves, clarify the responsibilities of relevant parties, and take effective measures to ensure employees’ benefits during their leaves.
第三,优化时间支持。优化生育休假制度,从保障职工生育权益和保护生育职工健康权的功能定位出发,体现保护生育和养育过程,如推行弹性工作制等,帮助职工平衡工作和家庭关系,促进公平就业和职业发展。要结合实际完善假期用工成本合理分担机制,明确相关各方责任,采取切实有效措施保障职工假期待遇。
Fourth, increase intergenerational care support. Strengthen policy support for intergenerational care. Encourage models of care such as grandparenting and familial mutual assistance. Incorporate intergenerational care into family childcare service centers. Explore the possibility of including elderly involvement in infant and toddler care as a part of domestic services and provide childcare subsidies in the form of meal vouchers, pension subsidies, travel discounts, free park admissions, and more. Establish and improve the incentive, evaluation, and oversight mechanisms for elderly participation in intergenerational childcare.
第四,加强代际照料支持。加强对代际照料的政策支持。支持隔代照料、家庭互助等照护模式。将代际照料纳入家庭托育服务点。探索将老人参与婴幼儿照料纳入家政服务,通过助餐券、养老补贴、出行优惠、公园免费等形式给予育儿补贴。建立健全老人参与代际育儿照料的激励、评估和监督机制。
Fifth, enhance the guidance on cultural values. It is essential to provide guidance on young people’s views on love, marriage, and family, and we should strive to advocate values such as self-cultivation, harmonious family relations, intergenerational heritage, and the importance of upbringing. Fully utilize the advantages of family planning associations and other mass organizations, as well as various media, to continuously promote campaigns of creating happy families, and communicate traditional virtues like respecting the elderly, loving the young, marital harmony, and frugality. Advocate for harmony within families to foster a peaceful environment, friendly neighborhoods, benevolent communities, and a harmonious society. Launch a new family culture building project, subtly influencing societal views through excellent film and TV works and online content. Organize and create a series of uplifting literary and artistic works to tell China’s stories of love, harmonious families, and happy lives in the new era. Promote family-friendly cities, communities, and organizations nationwide. Focus on breaking old customs such as extravagant bride prices and strengthen the guidance on love, marriage, and family views among rural youths. Advocate for the incorporation of new marriage and fertility culture into village regulations and civil rules, and facilitate the building of rural cultural civility.
第五,加强文化观念引领。要加强对青年婚恋观、家庭观引导,大力倡导修身齐家、孝悌和睦、代际传承、重视养育等家庭价值理念。充分发挥计生协等群团组织优势和各类媒体作用,持续推进创建幸福家庭活动,弘扬“尊老爱幼、夫妻和睦、勤俭持家”等传统美德,倡导“以家庭和睦促进环境和美、邻里和气、社区和善、社会和谐”。实施新型家庭文化建设工程,通过优秀影视作品、网络作品潜移默化地影响社会观念,组织创作一批积极向上的文艺作品,讲好新时代美好爱情、和谐家庭、幸福生活的中国故事。在全国开展家庭友好城市、社区、单位创建活动。以破除高价彩礼等陈规陋习为重点,加强农村地区青年婚恋观、家庭观引导,倡导将新型婚育文化内容纳入村规民约、自治章程,推进乡风文明建设。
Sixth, establish and improve supportive policies for family development. As the main body for childbearing and upbringing, the family is both the direct bearer and beneficiary of childbirth. We should raise the importance of promoting family development to a national strategy, and improve the policy system that supports family development. We should research and introduce policies beneficial to family development, and create a cultural atmosphere that promotes family development, thereby supporting the building and growth of families.
第六,建立健全家庭发展支持政策。家庭作为生育养育主体,是生育的直接承担者和受益者。将促进家庭发展上升为国家战略,完善促进家庭发展的政策体系。研究出台有利于家庭发展的政策体系,营造促进家庭发展的文化氛围,促进家庭建设与家庭发展。
China Daily: In 2022, the China Family Planning Association initiated the first batch of marriage and fertility culture-building pilot projects in 20 places, including the Miyun District of Beijing. Up to now, what success stories and practices have emerged?
中国日报:中国计生协2022年在北京市密云区等20个地方开展了第一批婚育文化建设试点项目。迄今为止,这些地区有哪些好的经验和做法可以分享?
Wang Pei’an: To put the spirit of the 20th Party Congress and the central government’s decision on optimizing fertility policies into meaningful practice, and to give full play to the role of the Family Planning Association in promoting the building of a marital and childbearing culture in the new era, the China Family Planning Association started a nationwide pilot project on marriage and childbearing culture building in 2022, designating 20 cities (or regions) as pilot areas. Over the past year, these pilot areas have proactively adapted to new situations and requirements, and actively carried out six actions including surveys, publicity platform upgrades, and revisions of village regulations and civil rules. With extensive public campaigns, they have promoted concepts such as “marriage at the right age, high-quality childbirth, gender equality, shared responsibility, and intergenerational harmony,” and communicated traditional Chinese virtues of personal cultivation, filial piety, and harmonious families. This facilitated the creation of a supportive environment and social atmosphere for unlocking childbearing potential and promoting the healthy and harmonious development of families, which garnered some experiences and guiding practices for building the marital and fertility culture of the new era.
王培安:为深入贯彻落实党的二十大精神和中央优化生育政策决策部署,充分发挥计生协作用,推动建设新时代婚育文化,中国计生协于2022年开始在全国开展婚育文化建设试点项目,确定20个地(市)为婚育文化建设试点。一年来,各试点地区主动适应新形势新要求,积极开展调查研究、宣传阵地升级、村规民约清理修订等六项行动,做好群众性宣传倡导,树立“适龄婚育、优生优育、性别平等、责任共担、代际和谐”等婚育观念,弘扬修身齐家、孝老爱亲、家庭和睦等中华传统美德,为进一步释放生育潜能、促进家庭健康发展与和谐幸福创造了良好的支持环境和社会氛围,为构建新时代婚育文化探索了一些经验做法。
We dedicated efforts to public awareness campaigns. For the building of a marriage and childbearing culture and to provide the right guidance on marriage and childbearing concepts, public campaigns must be our primary solution. In pilot areas, public campaigns were conducted, including issuing advocacy statements, collecting promotional slogans, holding knowledge contests, producing promotional films, and distributing promotional posters, in order to promote the marriage and childbearing culture of the new era. Various regions have also pushed innovations in mediums, forms, and methods of promotion, where campaigns are combined with local cultural characteristics and traditional customs, thus combining campaigns and public guidance with engaging and enjoyable content. Many places have produced short films and videos, integrating the new era’s marriage and childbearing culture into artistic works, thereby enhancing the promotional impact. In Qian’nan Prefecture of Guizhou Province, the Family Planning Association launched a collection campaign of folk songs related to the new era’s marriage and childbearing culture. They organized ethnic minority groups to promote new marriage and childbearing culture in the new era through Bouyei folk songs and Miao verses. In the Dazu District of Chongqing, the Family Planning Association established a certificate issuance hall, marriage and childbearing counseling rooms, and a marriage and childbearing cultural display hall at the marriage registration office. They delved deeply into the excellent marriage and childbearing cultural connotations contained in the Dazu rock carvings and designed and produced promotional items with local characteristics.
在“宣”字上花气力。婚育文化的营造和婚育观念的引领,要宣传先行。试点地区以开展群众性宣传活动、发布倡议书、征集宣传标语、举办知识竞赛、制作宣传片、投放宣传海报等方式积极宣传新时代婚育文化。各地还加强载体创新、形式创新、方法创新,结合当地文化特色和传统习俗,以群众喜闻乐见的形式开展宣传引导。许多地方拍摄微电影、短视频,将新时代婚育文化融入文艺作品,提高了宣传效果。贵州省黔南州计生协开展新时代婚育文化山歌征集活动,组织少数民族群众以布依山歌、苗族说唱等形式唱响新时代婚育新风尚。重庆市大足区计生协在婚姻登记处打造颁证大厅、婚育辅导室及婚育文化展示厅,深入挖掘大足石刻蕴含的优秀婚育文化内涵,设计制作本土特色宣传品。
We focused on the importance of building our capabilities. Strengthening grassroots teams, sites, and mechanisms is the foundation for achieving a marital and childbearing culture in the new era. Some areas publicly recruited volunteers to form grassroots public campaign teams, while others established expert groups to offer professional support. In terms of site construction, some areas have built new publicity sites in village community service centers, while others integrated various service sites with marital and childbearing cultural elements. Regarding mechanism building, various areas have explored the “party leadership, government guidance, association-led, departmental collaboration, and public participation” cooperative mechanism, pooling resources from various departments such as publicity, health, and civil affairs to jointly promote this cultural initiative.
在“建”字上下功夫。加强基层队伍、阵地、机制建设,是夯实新时代婚育文化建设的重要基础。在队伍建设方面,有的地区公开招募志愿者,组建基层宣传队伍;有的地区组建专家团队,为构建新时代婚育文化提供专业支持。在阵地建设方面,有的地区依托村社党群服务中心等地新建新时代婚育文化宣传阵地;有的地区将计生协各类服务阵地融入婚育文化元素。在机制建设方面,各地探索创建“党委领导、政府主导、协会牵头、部门协同、群众参与”的共建共享协作机制,充分调动整合系统内外资源,联合宣传、卫生健康、民政等单位,汇聚起构建新时代婚育文化的工作合力。
We expanded the connotation of integration. Adhering to our value guidance, we integrated the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation into the building of the new era’s marriage and childbearing culture. For example, the Family Planning Association of Lijiang City of Yunnan Province integrated the essence of traditional marital customs into the new era’s marriage and childbearing culture. They achieved this integration by organizing traditional Dongba wedding performances, promoting concepts of the Naxi ethnic group’s marriage customs, such as marrying at the appropriate age, eliminating dowry practices, and promoting equal marriage and childbearing rights and responsibilities between spouses. In addition, pilot areas have integrated the new era’s marriage and childbearing culture into the daily lives of the people. In rural areas, actions to revise village regulations and civil rules have been carried out, incorporating the new era’s marriage and childbearing culture into these regulations and family teachings, guiding people to voluntarily promote such values and conduct self-education. In urban areas, the new era’s marriage and childbearing culture was integrated into community management, providing families with guidance and services on topics such as youth relationships and marriage, fertility and childbearing, reproductive health education, and child-rearing knowledge.
在“融”字上做文章。坚持价值引领,把中华民族优秀传统文化融入新时代婚育文化建设。如云南省丽江市计生协将传统婚俗文化中的精华融入新时代婚育文化中,通过组织东巴传统婚礼展演活动,弘扬纳西族婚俗中适龄婚育、杜绝彩礼、夫妻平等婚育观念。此外,各试点还把新时代婚育文化融入百姓生活。在农村地区开展村规民约修订行动,将新时代婚育文化融入村规民约、家规家训,引导群众自我宣传、自我教育;在城市地区将新时代婚育文化融入社区管理,为家庭提供青年婚恋、优生优育、生殖健康、育儿知识等指导与服务。
We improved our performance by focusing on serving the people. Each pilot area, under the principle of delivering “what the Party and government need, what the public urgently requires, and what the association can offer,” has combined the promotion of the new era’s marital and childbearing culture with the consideration of the public’s needs for fertility and childrearing support as well as family health. They have helped people understand, internalize, and practice this new culture through the enjoyment of public services. For example, the Ningbo Family Planning Association has set up a “Penguin Dad Studio” to organize various parent-child activities, community services, and volunteer events, which set a great example for promoting shared parenting responsibilities, and mobilized parents in promoting, improving, and practicing the new culture through their actions. In Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, the Association hosted collective public welfare weddings, giving newlyweds marital and childbearing handbooks and “love packages,” advocating new and civilized marital customs, and abandoning the old and backward traditions such as expensive dowries and lavish celebrations, thereby leading the way in starting new wedding trends.
在“服”字上求实效。各试点地区秉持“党政所需、群众所急、协会所能”的原则,将宣传新时代婚育文化与满足群众优生优育、家庭健康等需求结合起来,帮助群众在接受服务中深刻感悟、理解和践行新时代婚育文化。宁波市计生协以“企鹅爸爸工作室”为阵地,组织各类亲子活动,参与社区建设、服务志愿等活动,树立夫妻共担育儿责任的榜样力量,以实际行动做新时代婚育文化的宣传者、推动者、践行者。黑龙江省哈尔滨市计生协举办集体公益婚礼,为新人赠送婚育手册和“爱心礼包”,倡导文明婚育新风,破除高价彩礼、大操大办等陈规陋习,引领婚礼时尚。