The rise in "anti-natalist" sentiment: Young people in China resist CCP rule with a "no descendants" protest.

Although hair has turned gray, the struggle to survive requires relentless effort. (Video screenshot)

People News - When a dynasty reaches its twilight, certain signs emerge: children are deprived of proper education; youth see no future; adults find it hard to start or sustain families; the elderly struggle with healthcare; and the impoverished face endless suffering without help. These are, in essence, some long-standing Confucian maxims describing the waning stability of a regime. Yet in today's China, where traditional culture has been forcibly uprooted, all these "signs" have appeared, and the people seem to have lost faith in the future.

Young people feel despair about their lives and their future under mounting pressures, which has led to varied forms of resistance. Movements have emerged such as the "Soy Sauce Army" (non-involvement), the "White Paper Movement," "White Hair Protests," and even more despairing actions such as group suicide, random violence, and the popular stance of "lying flat." A new, even more poignant form of protest has also taken shape: refusing to have children. As one young man in Shanghai famously said to police officers who threatened him during the lockdowns, "No need to worry about three generations. This is our last generation; no next generation here, thank you."

Mainland Chinese are unwilling to have children, cannot afford to have children, and refuse to perpetuate the CCP's bloody feast of power.

At the beginning of this year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics released demographic data indicating that from 2010 to 2023, the country’s birth rate showed a steady downward trend. Since 2013, the birth rate has decreased consecutively for seven years, falling from 13.03‰ to 6.39‰ in 2023. In a State Council press conference earlier this year, Bureau Director Kang Yi revealed that 9.02 million births occurred nationwide, with a birth rate of 6.39‰. The natural population growth rate was -1.48‰, marking the lowest levels since the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China in 1949. Additionally, China’s population has now been overtaken by that of another Asian giant, India.

The ever-alert CCP has sensed that the looming population crisis might spell its demise, at the very least threatening a future shortage of “reliable labor” (韭菜). After last year’s declaration of an 850,000-person decline, they rolled out new measures on October 28 to "stimulate" childbirth. The recently issued notice, On Accelerating the Improvement of the Birth Support Policy System to Build a Childbirth-Friendly Society, calls for strengthened childbirth services, enhanced childcare service systems, supportive policies in education, housing, and employment, a birth-friendly social atmosphere, improved birth insurance, parental leave, subsidies, and better child healthcare resources. Additionally, local governments are encouraged to budget for childcare services and provide favorable tax policies.

We’ve seen various “stimulus” strategies from the CCP before—economic stimulus, Taiwan, fresh graduates—but now, for the first time, they’re talking about “stimulating childbirth.” And these “high-IQ advisors” have provided the CCP with truly “ingenious” strategies: leveraging all forms of media to promote it, instilling it in school curricula, subtly embedding it into entertainment and film... It’s a whole new level of insight, setting an “impressive example” for the uninformed.

Apparently, this series of “brilliant tactics” was devised following a survey conducted by Chinese health officials earlier this month. They sampled 150 monitored counties, 1,500 communities (urban and rural), with responses from 30,000 people reluctant or unable to have children. Their “high-IQ advisors” indeed pulled off a “scientific, precise, and meticulous” survey. The results then went to an even “smarter” think tank, leading to the birth of a “national strategy.” No one is permitted to question this wisdom, but if they did, here’s how some might respond:

"Yes, of course, we officials understand that the reluctance to have children relates to people’s livelihoods and the political environment. If we don’t make an appearance, how will those above us know we’re busy? And how will those below show their ‘gratitude’? We need to play our part in this formal show of ‘effort,’ don’t we? Looking back, sure, we might ‘regret’ the heavy-handed campaigns like house seizures, property confiscations, and job firings during the ‘One-Child’ policy. But without those moves, where would we have our unbreakable ‘golden rice bowl’ today? Trying to reverse the declining birth rate? Who says we’re genuinely trying? A full reversal would only have us packing up and heading home! A slight uptick, though—that’s what we want to show the top brass. What, another drop? We’ve still got ways to ‘encourage’ birth rates, even if it means a fresh wave of ‘seizures and firings.’ Why not?”

“What’s that? Have leadership have more children? Or the ‘Three Represents’ party members? Don’t we already allow children from mistresses and extramarital affairs to be registered? Aren’t we discussing making extramarital affairs legal? Isn’t that enough? Children born in Hong Kong or even abroad can all become our future labor force. Think we’re out of ideas? Then you come up with the solutions!”

“What? Since Hong Kong returned, it has the world’s lowest birth rate? Seventy-six percent of respondents say they don’t want children, with an average of just 0.8 children per woman? That’s only because they haven’t grasped the beauty of our vision for the future! They’re not aware that we’ll funnel massive amounts of RMB to support them. It’s not due to hopelessness about the future or silent dissent against the government; they’re just shortsighted. How could reproduction relate to the National Security Law? We never guaranteed that we’d imprison or arrest their children later on, right?”

“Live without joy, die without fear? No fear of death, why have offspring? That’s just the howling of the ignorant. It’s an insult, a slander against our righteous party. Anyone who dares claim that the ‘victorious party’ relies on stimulus tactics to rule will feel the force of the proletarian iron fist. Just watch!”