China should further ease population controls by lowering one of the world’s highest marriage ages to encourage more births as the nation grows old, according to a lawmaker.

　　鉴于中国的法定婚龄在世界上都数一数二，一位人大代表在会上提议通过降低婚龄来鼓励生育，放宽人口控制，缓解老龄化现象。

　　Huang Xihua, a member of the National People’s Congress (NPC) gathering in Beijing, proposes cutting the minimum marriage age to 18 for both sexes and shifting policy to encourage more children. Under current law, men must be 22 to marry and women must be 20.

　　作为前来北京参加全国人大会议的代表，黄细华提议将国内的男女法定结婚最低年龄定为18周岁，进一步调整人口政策，实施鼓励生育政策。现有法律规定：“结婚年龄，男不得小于22周岁,女不得小于20周岁”。

　　“The high marriageable age limit was introduced with the population controls,” Huang said in an interview, adding that the change will protect young couples in de facto marriages as well as their children. “Now we have already allowed two babies, and we should give that choice back to people.”

　　“较高的法定婚龄限制是针对当时控制人口政策引入的，”黄细花在接受记者采访时说道，并补充道，该调整将会保障年轻夫妻的相关权利，也会保护他们的孩子。“既然我们现在已经放开二胎政策了，我认为也应该允许让夫妇自行决定生育孩子的数量。”

　　More than 30 years of social engineering under the one-child policy has left the world’s most populous country with too few young people to support an aging society, fueling the risk of rising labor costs, lost competitiveness, and an overburdened social welfare system. China moved to address the demographic time bomb in 2015 by allowing couples to have two children, yet the number of new births still fell short of expectations.

　　三十多年来的计划生育政策使得世界多个人口大国出现“老龄化”和“少子化”并存的现象，年轻人越来越少，高龄老人则越来越多，这就导致了劳动力成本不断上升、竞争力逐渐丧失以及社会福利机制负担过重等后果。2015年，中国实行放开二胎政策，试图解决这颗蛰伏已久的“人口定时炸弹”，然而现如今却效果甚微，新生儿的数量远远低于预期目标。

　　Huang, 51, a delegate from Huizhou, in southern Guangdong province who is currently working in Tibet, holds a doctorate in ecology. She says human society is like an ecosystem because it needs ample offspring to remain stable and balanced. She’s been campaigning to relax birth control policies since 2008, and she said her previous efforts were met with derision.

　　来自广东省惠州市、现如今在西藏工作的51岁人大代表黄细花曾获得生态学的博士学位。她表示人类社会就如同生态系统，需要数量充足的子孙后代来维持稳定和平衡。黄细花从2008年开始就倡导放松人口控制这一政策，但其先前所做的努力却备受外界奚落嘲笑。

　　Her plan to lower age limits was labeled as “absurd” by some critics in online forums when she first proposed it in 2012, setting off an internet debate that dissuaded her from advocating for the measure. While the proposal remains controversial, she said attitudes toward birth planning policies are now changing.

　　2012年黄细花首次提议之时，一些批评家在网络论坛内公开表示黄细花的想法简直是“荒诞可笑”，并发起一场网上辩论，阻止黄细花继续提倡该措施。虽然该议题始终争议不断，但她表示大家对于生育政策的态度相比之前已有所变化。

　　Another Guangdong delegate, He Youlin, says the time for reevaluation has come.

　　另一位来自广东的代表何有林则表示新的时代已经来临，应进行重新评估。

　　“People’s minds have changed,” He said in an interview. “They won’t have many babies if the government doesn’t provide ample measures to help. We need to take steps to change moms who are willing to have babies but dare not do so into moms who are happy and assured to have babies.”

　　“人们的思想已经变了，”何有林接受采访时说道，“如果政府不采取相应全面的措施来进行改进和帮助，很多人不会选择要那么多孩子。我们应该进一步采取行动，让那些愿意生孩子但不敢生的妈妈们心甘情愿地生孩子。”

　　There are signs the government is gearing up for many more births.

　　事实上，政府之前就已经在为放开人口政策做相应准备。

　　China will add 89,000 maternity beds over three years to help hospitals cope with rising demand from the second-child policy, according to Health and Family Planning Commission Minister Li Bin. Quality neonatal treatment will be ensured to better meet the needs of women, especially those 35 or older who want a second child, she said on the sidelines of the NPC. The number of pediatricians will also be increased to handle an expected uptick in births since the end of the one-child policy.

　　卫生和计划生育委员会部长李彬表示，中国在近三年来已经增加了89000多个产科床位，帮助各大医院解决二胎政策之后不断上升的床位需求。同时，李彬还在全国人大非正式会议期间提到，新生儿的治疗条件也在不断提高和改进，以便更好适应各位妈妈们，尤其是年龄在35岁以上还想要二胎的高龄产妇们的需要。与此同时，在二胎政策开放之后，儿科医生的数量相比之前也有很大提升，以便解决生育率上涨期间的相关问题。

　　Still, the government has strictly controlled for decades to keep a tight lid on population.

　　几十年来，政府一直致力于严格控制人口，实行计划生育政策。

　　Both economic burdens and social challenges prevent women from having more children. Some face discrimination when looking for work, while others without child care must quit jobs.

　　沉重的经济负担和社会负担使得广大女性不想要更多孩子。一些女性在找工作的过程中遭到歧视，一些则因为享受不了儿童保健服务等不得不辞去工作。

　　Some don’t agree with Huang on lifting all limits on child births. They hold lowering the marriage age could have social consequences, prompting teenagers to start dating earlier and get married on impulse.

　　一些人对黄细花的全面开放生育政策这一提议表示反对。他们认为降低法定婚龄可能会引发一系列社会后果，促使青少年增加早恋以及冲动结婚等行为。

　　“Offering people the right to marry and encouraging them to marry at a young age are utterly different. You can choose to get married at 28, 38 or 48,” Huang said. “People are getting married later and later anyway, and lowering the limits won’t change that trend.”

　　“法定的婚龄权利，跟鼓励他们很早就去结婚是两个概念，你自己可以选择在28岁、38岁还是48岁结婚，”黄细花解释道，“现如今，晚婚已经是大势所趋，降低该限制也不会有太大影响。”

（编辑：何莹莹）