"Wanted More Children but Husband Had Vasectomy..." Chinese Woman with 7 Kids Fined 170 Million Won

Photo by Jang Ryung Ryung Screenshot from 'Douyin' account

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] In China, where a strict one-child policy was enforced until six years ago and families still have to pay fines if they have more than three children, a woman who gave birth to seven children despite facing a fine of 170 million won has become a hot topic.

According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 25th, Zhang Longlong (34), CEO of a small and medium-sized enterprise in Guangdong Province that produces clothing, accessories, and skin protection products, violated China's policy requiring fines for having more than three children and paid the fine to have a total of seven children.

Zhang Longlong has five boys and two girls, ranging from her eldest who is 14 years old to her youngest who is three years old by Korean age. Among them, two are twins.

According to local media, she said, "I think having many children is good as long as I can feed and educate them," adding, "Before having many children, I asked myself if I could financially support them, and after judging that it was definitely possible, I had many children."

She continued, "I had many children so that they wouldn't feel lonely when they inevitably leave home for college and other reasons," and added, "I originally planned to have more, but my husband had a vasectomy, so we could not have any more children."

Photo by South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, homepage capture

China initially imposed fines for having more than two children under the 'one family, one child' policy, but as the population decline trend became clear, the policy was relaxed to 'one family, two children,' and currently, families must pay fines if they have three or more children.

If the fine is not paid, children beyond the second cannot be registered in the household registry, and without a resident registration number, it is impossible to issue an ID card, so Zhang Longlong had to pay a fine of 1 million yuan (about 170 million won).

Zhang Longlong also posted about her large family life on 'Douyin,' the Chinese version of the social media platform TikTok, gaining 2 million followers.