Another quote......What does the one child policy mean to real people?

This quote is from the same family. I would also direct you to the June 19 issue of "World" magazine which discusses the effects of this policy on individuals and the country as a whole.

"While shopping, we met a Chinese man, who speaks excellent English and runs a little shop here in China. He pretty quickly identified himself as a Christian and had a couple of Bibles on his desk in his shop. We had a great time talking to him, and he was very interested in our family and the work of our ministry. He shared with us that he and his wife, who have one eleven-year-old son, long to have another child. He approached the government a few years ago to try to get permission to get around China's one-child policy. He was told that if he and his wife had a second child, they would have to pay a penalty of 80,000 Yuan. This is equivalent to about $12,000-U.S. He decided that he would find a way to get the money to pay this penalty, but then he was told that he would also be required to give up his shop—his sole source of income. He and his wife were forced to let go of their dream of having another child because they knew that they couldn't lose their shop. Such a sad story. It's so easy for us to slip into criticizing our own government and taking all of our many freedoms for granted. Stories like this remind us of all we have to be thankful for in the United States—and how important it is to protect those freedoms we enjoy."