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China Elevator Stories
“Does Austria Also Have Birth Planning?”
I take a cab to the airport in Shenzhen and chat with the cab driver.
04/02/2014
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
He asks me, “Does Austria also have birth planning?”
“It doesn’t.”
“I’ve heard that people don’t have as many children anymore, even if they’re allowed to have more.”
“You’re right. In Austria, people usually have one or two kids, or none at all.”
He tells me, “In my generation, having a big family was the norm.”
I say, “I also have a large family. We’re eight kids. Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“My mother gave birth to four kids. But my brothers and sisters are all gone (走了). Do you know what that means?”
“I do. We have a similar expression in German.”
“One brother died when he was a toddler. The others died as adults.”
Have you ever heard about a tragedy like this?
This is part of the series ‘Conversations with Locals in China,’ where I share conversations with Chinese people on my blog.