The story behind the “Birth Certificate”

The story behind the “Birth Certificate” (New York Times Chinese website) On the morning of December 3, 2012, Deputy Director of the Information Management Office of the Publicity and Education Department of the National Family Planning Commission...

(The New York Times Chinese website)

On the morning of December 3, 2012, Cai Fei, Deputy Director of the Information Management Office of the Publicity and Education Department of the National Family Planning Commission, sent me a text message: "Please pay attention to the China Population Network for relevant information." When I turned on the computer, the headline news on the website of the National Family Planning Commission was: "Our committee issued a notice asking all localities to effectively solve the problem of people's difficulty in obtaining certificates."

The main content of the notice is to "effectively simplify the certificate application process and solve the difficulty in obtaining certificates for migrant populations and other groups." It mentions that "for migrant couples of childbearing age who are unable to prove their marriage and childbearing status due to long-term or multiple migrations to multiple places, and who have difficulties in information verification, the place where the application is accepted can apply for a maternity service certificate (registration) for them based on the commitment of the parties." In short, for the floating population, birth certificates can be obtained locally.

In just over an hour, this news was pushed to the headlines of major websites, and Weibo was even more lively. Many netizens @me said that they thought of me when they saw this news, and my experience of difficulty in obtaining a certificate for an unborn child. They also thought of the article "Children who were "approved to be born"" published on the New York Times Chinese website on September 21, 2012. Some netizens joked that "Gao Mingyong won the battle."

After "Children Approved to Be Born" was published, it was forwarded thousands of times and commented on hundreds of times on Sina Weibo. Afterwards, I posted the article on NetEase and Sina blogs. NetEase's blog had nearly 400,000 hits in three days, and Sina's blog had a hit rate of hundreds of thousands in one day. Later, I found in the "National Public Opinion Weekly Report on Population and Family Planning" (2012.10.8-012.10.14) published on People's Daily Online (compiled by Shenzhen Zhonghong Online Company) that "Children Approved to Be Born" was ranked first in "Family Planning Blogs and Forums".

I had heard before that a birth certificate was required for the birth of a child, but I never took it seriously, thinking that I could just go through the normal procedures. Unexpectedly, this became my biggest personal event in 2012. In April 2012, as soon as my wife became pregnant, we started to contact the family planning office in our hometown to apply for a birth certificate for our child. Unexpectedly, although the conditions were met and the materials were complete, I was stuck due to inconsistent regulations in different regions. In September, my wife’s belly was growing, but she hadn’t received her “birth certificate” yet. I briefly wrote about my experience on Weibo, and unexpectedly it resonated with many people. At the invitation of the New York Times Chinese website, I wrote this "little thing" into "Children Approved to Be Born."

During the National Day, through the coordination of an intermediary, my wife and I took a train back to our hometown and obtained the birth certificate. I think this matter may be over.

After the National Day, on October 12, the newspaper I worked for, the Beijing News, told me via hotline that the National Family Planning Commission was contacting me and asked me to call back as soon as possible. I was shocked when I saw the news, not knowing whether it was a blessing or a curse. Although I had doubts, I called him back as soon as possible.

The person who contacted me was a staff member of the Migrant Population Service Management Department of the National Family Planning Commission (in response to the request of the other party, because he did not have the authority to release information to the public due to his responsibilities, his name will not be mentioned). He wanted to communicate about the article "An Expected Birth of a Child", and his attitude was very friendly. To be honest, I was once again surprised to receive a positive response from the National Family Planning Commission.

He first apologized to me for the difficulties I encountered in applying for the birth certificate, and then asked me how my application for the birth certificate was going. I said it was done.

He also thanked me for my opinions on their work and asked me if I had any demands. I made three suggestions: 1. Difficulty in applying for a certificate is not an isolated case. Judging from the public opinion response, many people feel the pain, and more people are still on the road to difficulty in applying for a certificate. They look forward to improving the system. Second, public opinion is now focusing on the difficulty in obtaining a certificate. We hope that public opinion can be faced squarely and a positive response can be given, rather than allowing resentment to continue to accumulate. Third, before a formal solution is introduced, can a "green channel" be opened so that the problem can be better solved for people who are having difficulty in obtaining a certificate.

At that time, the other party replied: "The article "Children approved for birth" has a greater impact and is a typical problem that makes it difficult to obtain a certificate. Similar issues have also been investigated, and relevant 'management measures' are expected to be launched in early December."

I proposed at that time that I wanted to have a conversation with Wang Qian, Director of the Migrant Population Service Management Department of the National Family Planning Commission, and sent an interview outline as requested, including the reasons for the existing regulations of the National Family Planning Commission on the processing of "Birth Certificates", how the National Family Planning Commission monitors the voice of public opinion, how to solve problems at the institutional level in the face of public opinion, and whether the "Birth Certificate" will be cancelled. Later, in accordance with the internal regulations of the Family Planning Commission, the interview matters were transferred to the Publicity and Education Department of the Family Planning Commission. Cai Fei, deputy director of the Information Management Office, has been in constant communication with me. Later, due to the convening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the interview has been postponed and has not yet been implemented.

During the period, in order to cooperate with the interview and more accurately grasp the seriousness of the "Birth Certificate" issue, the Tsinghua University Media Laboratory (also known as "Qingyan Consulting") also conducted a study at my request on "Should the "Birth Certificate" be cancelled? 》Special investigation. This survey was carried out based on their independently developed NetTouch network survey system, which randomly distributed questionnaires to a real-name sample group. 1,011 valid questionnaires were recovered, and the respondents were all married people. Among them, 92.4% of the respondents have applied for a "Birth Certificate"; 44.2% find it difficult to apply for a "Birth Certificate"; and 60.1% believe that migrants do not need to go back to their hometown to apply for a birth certificate.

The results of this survey are basically consistent with the public opinion reactions I have personally observed. It is indeed imperative to solve the problem of difficulty in obtaining the "Birth Certificate" and it is what public opinion wants.

So, early in the morning on December 3, I saw the notice from the National Family Planning Commission, and I was really happy. The National Family Planning Commission publicly responded to public opinion, faced people's problems, and made policy adjustments. After all, it took a big step forward.

But then, many netizens told me on Weibo that after seeing the "notice", they immediately contacted the local family planning department and found that it was not optimistic. On December 4, netizen @xiyutang said: "I called 12356 yesterday, and the other party replied that according to the requirements of the Beijing Municipal Family Planning Commission, one of the spouses must have a household registration in Beijing before they can apply for a birth certificate in Beijing. The notice has no legal effect." The netizen lamented: "If not If it can be implemented, it will be useless no matter how beautiful the picture is. "

A friend who works in the family planning system and did not want to be named told me that the National Family Planning Commission was originally scheduled to launch a "management method" in December this year, but it was temporarily shelved due to internal differences. According to him, the difference lies in how to position the "Birth Control Certificate". Whether the "Birth Control Certificate" serves population management or fertility. If it is the former, it involves changes in family planning policies; if it is the latter, it involves the simplification of service procedures. The positioning is different, and the intensity of adjustment is also different.

After that, I contacted the staff member of the Migrant Population Management Department who initially communicated with me and asked whether the positioning of the "Birth Certificate" was hindering the introduction of the "Management Measures". The other party responded that this positioning was for the discussion of the "Birth Certificate", not for the management of the floating population, and he could not give an answer due to limited responsibilities.

From my personal experience, it really shouldn’t be any more difficult to solve the problem of difficulties in obtaining certificates for migrants and other groups of people, it really can’t be delayed any longer, and it really doesn’t need to be complicated. In actual operation, the administrative and legal effects of the “Notice” on December 3 are inevitably limited. What should we do if the grassroots departments violate it? Can a "green channel" with a relief function be opened for the trapped? I look forward to measures with more legal effect than "notices" to effectively solve the problem.

Gao Mingyong works in the media.