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Fertility is an inevitable stage that most people have to face in their lives. We can understand it this way: for a person, he is just an individual, and no matter what lifestyle he chooses, he can make decisions according to his own ideas and environment.
Once an individual has left family of origin and established a new family,This means that they are no longer just a single individual. From an ethical point of view, it is also a kind of social pressure exerted by "being a parent" on the identity of individuals in our daily life.
Of course, in addition to some ethical and moral influences, there are some more realistic factors that will make people unwilling to accept the social identity of "parents". One of the most direct factors is economic factors.
In fact, it is well understood that the premise of childbirth is based on social factors: that is, finding a suitable partner and establishing a family with yourself. But fertility is also inseparable from economic factors.
Especially in today’s rapid social and economic development, it takes huge economic expenditure to bring up a child from birth to adulthood. This has led many young people to be unwilling to get married.Unwilling to have children.
No matter looking at the world or focusing on China, in recent years, the population growth trend is in a relatively slow state, and even most countries and regions have experienced negative population growth.
The same is true in China. In the past few years, when the COVID-19 epidemic broke out, in fact, we have suffered an obvious blow from the increase in population. From 2021 to 2022, China’s population has almost infinitely approached negative growth, but it is not obvious because of the relatively large population base accumulated previously.
When the time comes to 2023, relevant data show that the population of China has experienced the first negative population growth in the past 61 years, with a net decrease of 850,000 people.
On the one hand, this obvious change shows the overall population change trend in the world today, on the other hand, it reminds us that perhaps the population problem that we were least worried about is imminent.
In view of the low population growth rate and some secondary problems, the most direct solution is naturally to increase the fertility rate and increase the new population.
However, it is obviously not enough to change the status quo by relying on macro-level means such as policies and systems, because the idea of "unwilling to have children" has already penetrated into the hearts of this generation, especially young women.
According to a recent survey, among women under the age of 35 in China,只有不到七成的人才认为生育是“不得不做”的事情，换言之，有30%左右的女性已经开始对生孩子持“无所谓”甚至是抵触态度了。
这种情况在中国传统文化之中，应该是比较罕见的。因为生育对于华夏文明而言，有着非凡的意义，除了生命的延续，也是家族和文明的延续。
正如上文所说，生育在中国人看来，既是生理层面的生命延续，又是社会交往角度的关系延续，更是家庭、宗族文化和家风的传承。
中国传统文化重视“人情世故”，在很多社会环境当中，人与人之间的交往，甚至是事情发展的程度，都是取决于人与人之间的关系的。
即费孝通先生所谓“差序格局”——人们会以自我为中心，通过关系的亲属远近去判断不同关系的处理尺度。
从这个角度来看，生育其实也是一种对于关系延续的实践。无论是亲属关系、世俗关系还是亲密关系，子女的存在无疑能够让关系可以进一步发展，甚至是更加密切。
除了社会关系之外，文化的传承也是生育的一个重要功能。
比如习总书记在党的十八大之后提出的“家风”传承，实际上就是一种家族、宗族文化的延续，而无数个不同家庭如果都能够很好的传承优良文化，那么整个社会和国家自然也会在整体的优良文化传承中发展。
For the simplest example, most families have family precepts, family rules, and a value system that all family members agree with. These are their spiritual wealth.
Therefore, giving birth to children is naturally a fine cultural inheritance, which can also make individuals in the family gain spiritual improvement.
However, with the development of modern society, the traditional ideas that are not contrary to each other seem to be put on the "backward" level relative to "modern". The traditional advantages brought by childbearing mentioned above can no longer be favored by young people, and the high cost of childcare is even more prohibitive.
Many aspects should be taken into account to solve the fertility problem.
– The End –
Author | Tommy
Edit | Pan-fried bun
A group of young people who like to look up at the stars
References: Bruk, A., Scholl, S.G., & Bless, H. (2018). Beautiful mess effect: self-other differences in evaluation of showing vulnerability. Journal of personality and social psychology, 115 (2), 192-205.
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