More Easing of China's One-Child Policy

The Chinese government has announced another relaxation of its "one-child" policy:

Under the new family-planning rules, couples can have two children if one of the parents is an only child. China's one-child policy currently limits most urban couples to one child and allows two children for rural families if their first-born is a girl. Other exceptions previously also included allowing two children for parents who are themselves both singletons.

Further easing is inevitable, since China will soon be more worried about its aging population than about finding room for growth.

Incidentally, many of the girls given up for adoption over the past 25 years were abandoned because of these rules. And notice that for rural residents -- most of the country, since many city dwellers officially still live in their home villages -- having a daughter as the first child was not a crisis. They could still try again. But if the second child was also a girl, their chance of having a son was closed off, so many families abandoned that second daughter. Which means that many of the Chinese girls adopted all around the world may have full sisters living in China somewhere.