[Hansenq]

This is a tragic story. But it is also a story about the lengths that parents in China will go to improve the quality of life for their only child or to "save face" to their social circle about how their child is performing relative to others.

It's quite tragic that they felt the need to lean into this treatment and quite tragic that they were led on. Just a sad story all around.

[laughing_man]

China officially ended its one-child policy in 2015. Barring medical reasons, there was no reason for their daughter to be their only child.

[Our_Benefactors]

It’s been ended officially but due to social pressures to “put all your resources into one child” as the parents were accustomed to, having just one child is still a strong cultural factor. The CCP can’t just flip a switch and suddenly the whole culture aligns with having many children.

[Departed7405]

In fact, China fertility rare went down no lower than 1.5 during the one-child policy. In 2024 however, it was 1.03 child/woman, and last year it sank to less than 1 child per woman.

But of course there are huge disparities between cities and rural areas.