The ideal worker at the Chinese chemical manufacturer, according to the internal memo, is hardworking, virtuous and loyal. And — perhaps most important — willing to have children for the good of the country.
That was the message that the company, Shandong Shuntian Chemical Group, sent to unmarried employees recently, in a notice that spread widely on social media. It instructed them to start families by Sept. 30, or else.
“If you cannot get married and start a family within three quarters, the company will terminate your labor contract,” the memo said.
Shandong Shuntian was not the first company to try to dictate its employees’ personal lives amid rising concern about China’s plummeting marriage and birth rates. Weeks earlier, a popular supermarket chain had told its staff not to ask for betrothal gifts, to lower the cost of weddings.
Both orders were widely criticized, for many of the same reasons that people are refusing to start families in the first place. Besides the economic cost of having children, many young Chinese cite a desire for personal autonomy. They reject the traditional idea that their families should direct their lives, and they certainly aren’t inclined to let their employers have a say.
Last year, 6.1 million Chinese couples got married — a 20 percent decline from a year earlier, and the fewest since the government began releasing statistics in 1986. China’s population has fallen for three straight years.
The authorities have been trying to reverse those trends. Officials have visited women at home to ask whether they plan to get pregnant; published propaganda claiming that pregnancy can make women smarter; and called for creating a “fertility-friendly social atmosphere,” including in workplaces.
Some companies seem eager to comply.
The notice from the chemical company, which began circulating online last month, was directed at unmarried employees between the ages of 28 and 58, including divorced workers.
“Not responding to the call of the country, not marrying and having children, is disloyal,” the memo said.
As online ridicule grew, the company quickly backtracked. Reached by phone, a woman at its headquarters said the notice had been retracted, and that the local government had ordered the company to undergo “rectification.” She refused to answer further questions. Local labor officials could not be reached for comment.
Years ago, when the Chinese authorities wanted to limit births, they resorted to coercive measures like forced abortions and sterilizations. (The city where the chemical company is based, Linyi, was particularly notorious for such tactics.) Now that Beijing is trying to do the opposite, it is taking a softer approach, perhaps to avoid setting off large-scale resistance.
But officials have signaled support for some companies’ meddling, as in the case of the supermarket chain Pangdonglai.
The chain’s founder, Yu Donglai, wrote on social media in November that he would soon forbid employees to exchange “bride prices” — payments, sometimes amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, that a man traditionally gives to his future wife’s family. Critics of the practice, including the government, have argued that it makes marriage unaffordable for many men.
Employees would also not be allowed to invite more than five tables of guests to their weddings, Mr. Yu said.
Some commenters accused him of overstepping. But People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, defended him. The rules were “intended to promote a new trend of civilized marriage,” it said in a commentary. “Its guiding significance is worth paying attention to.”
Pangdonglai formalized the new rules in January. Employees who don’t comply will retain basic benefits but be ineligible for additional ones, like extended leave.
Some social media users speculated that the recent announcements were disguised cost-cutting measures, or dismissed them as the whims of entrepreneurs. Both Pangdonglai and the chemical company are private, not state-owned.
But the fact that companies felt comfortable issuing such edicts reflects the broader social environment, suggesting that they thought the orders would be well received, said Lu Pin, a Chinese feminist scholar and activist.
Rather than issue its own orders, the government might prefer to create social pressure to have children, Ms. Lu said. If people fear being excluded from their communities or losing their jobs, they might be more likely to comply, she said.
“Governance through social norms is low-cost, low-risk and avoids accountability for the government,” Ms. Lu said.
There have been suggestions, however, that the government might exert more direct pressure on its own employees.
Last year, a draft document from the health commission of Quanzhou, a city in southern China, spread online. It called on employees of government agencies to “take the lead in implementing the three-child policy.”
The document did not specify what was meant by implementing. But commenters drew parallels with a famous open letter from the central authorities that is seen as having launched the one-child policy in 1980. That letter exhorted party members to “take the lead” in having one child.
A woman who answered the phone at Quanzhou’s health commission confirmed the draft’s existence. But she said the city was waiting on higher-level instructions before issuing final guidelines.
Siyi Zhao contributed research.
