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Keira Lu Huang

Many Chinese couples may have stayed up a little later than usual on Thursday night to 'consider' the nation’s plan to end its one-child policy.
One social media post said: “Dear boss, can I come in a bit late tomorrow because I have to study the fifth plenum’s decision with my wife tonight, which could go on a bit late? Your anxious staff, Oct, 29.”
Funny comments like these appeared across China’s social media network after Beijing announced it would abolish its controversial one-child policy on Thursday evening at  end of the fifth plenum of the party's 18th Central Committee.

Watch: Chinese welcome new two-child policy
The dramatic decision set off frenzied internet discussions with many people jokingly complaining that they would feel too tired to go to work on Friday.
“Let’s try our best to stop India’s population surpassing ours,” one online commentator wrote. China’s population is about 1.37 billion, while India’s is about 1.28 billion.
Read more: Five things you need to know about China's one-child policy
Another social media post said: “Wives, ready to hear your mother-in-laws nagging soon?”
Further comments targeted the dilemmas that would be facing after the one-child policy was abolishment.
“To people born in 1950s and 60s: should you try to have one more child or one more grandchild? To people born in 1970s: should I have another child? Can I afford another child? To people born in1980s: if my mother-in-law and my wife are pregnant at the same time, how do I divide my time up so I can take care of them both?”

Many people simply welcomed Beijing’s change of policy.
“I gave a big sigh of relief: I’m so pleased I won’t see words such as ‘brother, sister, uncle, aunt’ disappearing from the Chinese language,” popular social media writer known as Hecaitou posted on his Weibo account. ”


Watch: China's extra kids mean business
Since Thursday night “Gonna have the second baby?” had become a popular greeting on the mainland messaging app WeChat, wrote the Guangming Daily in a commentary published on Friday.
However, the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, attempted to dampen down the excitement by providing detailed explanations showing that there was still a long way before the policy was officially abolished.
An article published on its website said it was wrong to suggest that couples were already permitted to have two children.
Liang Zhongtang, an expert on China’s one-child policy, told the People’s Daily that family planning would remain an important government policy, and that the only difference now was that the limit of children had changed from one to two.
Reaction: ‘That’s great! But…’: Chinese residents respond to long-awaited lifting of one-child policy
An official at the National Health and Family Planning Commission also told the newspaper that officials still needed to complete at least four important steps before the new policy was taken.
First, the plan would have to be approved by the party’s Central Committee – the political body made up of top party leaders, which is the highest authority when the national legislature, the National People’s Congress, is not in session; second, the congress’ Standing Committee would then need to approve amendments of the State Council, the mainland’s chief administrative authority; third, local governments would need to report their own plans for implementing the policy change; fourth, local law makers would then have to amend the official family planning rules.
The newspaper said all of these additional administrative processes meant parents that gave birth to a second child before the final version of the new rule was fully implemented could still face punishment.
Mainstream media also joined in the discussions on the plans to amend the family planning policy.
Xinhua’s commentary on Friday said that the decision followed a consensus that had been reached by team of experts.
They had concluded that the new policy would help to increase the nation’s labour force in future and ease pressure on the country’s ageing population.
A  Beijing Times commentary said surveys conducted by state bureaus showed that despite permission being granted for couples to have a second child, there would actually be about 4 per cent fewer couples willing to have another child in 2016 compared with the such couples in 2015.
Meanwhile, several mainland media commented that the change was a sign that mainland people were being given back their rights.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have the second child or not, it shows people are being given greater freedom, so let’s celebrate that first,” said the commentary in the overseas edition of People’s Daily.


Baby-minded Chinese couples stay up to small hours to ‘consider’ new second-child policy

China's People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, has tried to dampen  excitement about the one-child policy being abolished by saying there is still a long way to go. Photo: EPA

Chinese parents that give birth to a second child before the policy has been fully implemented could still face punishment. Photo: Reuters

China’s easing of one-child policy will prove boon to couples – and businesses

An increase in births could begin providing a boost to the Chinese economy as soon as mid-2016, say experts. Photo: Reuters 

Allowing all Chinese couples to have two children after decades of a strict one-child policy will help alleviate demographic strains on the economy. Photo: Reuters

‘That’s great! But…’: Chinese residents respond to long-awaited lifting of one-child policy

Parents and babies gather at a park in Beijing. Photo: EPA

Tom Zhang

Yang Shu

Chen Wenhuan

John Ge

Young children play at a park in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Chinese couples can now have two children, instead of just one. Photo: AFP

China's two-child policy promises baby boost - not boom, experts say

China began easing restrictions in 2013 to try to offset the rapid greying of its population. Photo: EPA

Parents have so far been reluctant to have larger families. Photo: EPA

Families will be able to have two children, loosening the existing policy where a couple can have a second child only if at least one spouse was an only child. Photo: Reuters

China to abandon three-decade-old one-child policy, driving 3pc shares boost for Danone's milk powder

Members of the Communist Party's Central Committee meet during its fifth plenum, which ended in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

China will ease family planning restrictions to allow all couples to have two children. Photo: Reuters

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