BEIJING - China has no plans to change its one-child policy, Premier Wen Jiabao said, adding family planning was critical to China’s modernization plans.The official Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday quoted Mr Wen as saying the ‘government will adhere to the basic policy of family planning with improved services and stronger leadership.’

He added that family planning was crucial to China’s modernisation and the building of a ‘harmonious society,’ a catchphrase meant to mean a more equal distribution of riches in a country with a growing wealth gap.

Mr Wen told a conference that more rewards and subsidies were needed for rural people, including social insurance to encourage birth control.

Up to 800 million of China’s 1.3 billion people live in the countryside, where children, especially boys, are considered the best way to make up for the country’s limited social safety net.

The communist government has limited most urban couples to one child and rural couples to two since the 1970s to try to restrain the growth of China’s population and conserve scarce resources.

Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilisation and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs, which has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses in hopes of getting boys.

Government statistics show that 117 boys are born for every 100 girls in China, well above the average for industrialized countries of between 104 and 107 boys for every 100 girls. — AP

There are other things you must know.

1. If you and your spouse were both from single-child families, you are allowed to have more than one kid.
2. Minority groups are exempted from this one-child policy.
3. You are not allowed to know the sex of your child during your pregnancy. I found out about this when I asked my landlord the other day. Apparently they do go for a scan to check whether the baby is healthy and everything, but they are not allowed to look at the screen at all. The husband is not even allowed in the room. Hmm. This does not apply if you have connections with the doctor, of course.