Love in the Time of Low Birth Rates: Chinese Colleges Encourage Romance Among Students

In April, nine Chinese universities claim to be giving students a week off to “fall in love.”

While China‘s population issues have already reached a tipping point, political advisors to the government have offered several proposals to boost the birth rate. Some universities are already developing their own strategies to address the national issue.

According to reports, the Mianyang Flying Vocational College, one of nine institutions managed by the Fan Mei Education Group, originally announced the spring break on March 21, with a romantic theme. Students are encouraged to “learn to appreciate nature, love life, and enjoy love via enjoying spring vacation,” which runs from April 1 to April 7.

Mianyang Flying Vocational College’s vice dean, Liang Guohui, expects that students would visit the green water and mountains to extend their perspectives and grow their feelings. This will expand and deepen the classroom teaching content.

Writing journals, keeping track of personal development, and creating travel films are examples of student homework.This initiative is an attempt to develop techniques to increase the fertility rate.

The government has made over 20 proposals to increase birth rates, but experts believe the most they can do is moderate the population drop.

China dug itself a demographic hole partly due to its one-child policy, which was implemented between 1980 and 2015. Officials upped the restriction to three in 2021, but couples have been hesitant to have children even during stay-at-home COVID seasons.

Young people are discouraged by expensive childcare and school costs, poor earnings, a shaky social safety net, and gender inequities.

The proposals to increase the birth rate, made at China’s People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) annual meeting this month, array from subventions for families nurturing their first kid, instead of just the second and third, to increase free public education and develop right of entry to fertility treatments.

Analysts saw the sheer volume of recommendations as an indication that China was addressing its ageing and decreasing demographics with haste, following figures that showed China’s population lessening for the very first time in about six decades last year.