The Chinese government did not play when it came to enforcing its one-child policy. They have been known to force citizens to abort their fetuses even when they’re very far into the pregnancy – yes, even as far as Qian was, at around six months or so.
The couple knew they had to act fast and get as far away as they could from the family planning office in their village. They decided to jump on a boat and try to get away from it all, taking both of their children with them.
China’s New Law
During the early 1980’s, China had enacted the one-child policy as a part of a birth planning program designed to control the rapidly growing Chinese population. Before the policy, each couple was allowed to have two children, which would have meant an entirely different fate for Kati, whose biological parents, Qian Fenxiang and Xu Lida, found themselves in a horrible position in the midst of the changing policy.
The couple already had one child when they found out they were pregnant with Kati, which forced them to make an incredibly tough decision.
What to Do?
When Xu Lida and Qian Fenxiang discovered that they were pregnant with their second child, they found themselves in between a rock and a hard place – the hardest of places. At first, the news was joyous – until the new government policy emerged, that is. By the time the couple got word of what was going on, it was far past the point of stopping the pregnancy, as Xu Lida was nearly six months pregnant at the time.
They were frantic in trying to figure out how to handle the situation. But they weren’t about to let their child go that easily. They thought at first that they may just be able to hide the child from the government. They would soon find out that the government was equally prepared for a fight.
Six Weeks at Sea
At first, everything seemed to be working out for the young family. The couple took their young child, loaded up the boat and headed out to sea to try and escape the government’s prying eyes. They managed to fly under the radar even up until the point that Qian went into labor. Xu sort of panicked at that moment, because he knew that taking her to a hospital would mean someone finding out about the baby.
So, he helped her give birth to the child right there on the boat. Luckily, everything went smoothly during the birth and Qian delivered Jingzhi in the middle of the sea. But the family’s troubles were just beginning.
Hiding Jingzhi
Hiding a pregnant woman is no easy task, which is why they decided to head out to sea during the remainder of Qian’s pregnancy. But now that Jingzhi had been born, a whole new array of difficulties presented themselves. The couple knew that hiding a newborn baby would be near, if not entirely impossible.
But admitting to giving birth to the second child wouldn’t just mean turning the baby over to the authorities, it would mean paying some hefty fines that they just couldn’t afford. They found themselves getting more desperate by the hour. They had to think of something, and they had to do it quickly.