Chinese mum pays over US$150,000 to have perfect seven kids, bucking countrys children trend
b'Chinese mum pays over US$150,000 to have \\u2018perfect\\u2019 seven kids, bucking country\\u2019s Zhang\\u2019s family has paid more than 1 million yuan (US$155,000) in \\u201csocial support fees\\u201d \\u2013 effectively fines \\u2013 to the local government for the privilege of giving birth to more than the permitted number of children. Until six years ago, most women in China could only bear one child.\\n\\nGet the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.\\n\\nWithout paying the fines, the children \\u2013 five boys and two girls, including a set of twins, aged between one and 14 \\u2013 would not have received their all-important identity documents. skincare business in Guangdong province in southern China.\\n\\nShe was born and raised in the Chaoshan, or Teoswa, region in eastern Guangdong where traditionally families have been large, with a preference for sons. Even so, Zhang\\u2019s brood of seven is a rarity.\\n\\n\\u201cThere are families with three or four kids, because Teochew people usually prefer boys to girls ... if the first two kids are girls, they\\u2019ll try for a third or fourth one, but seldom as many as I have,\\u201d Zhang said.\\n\\nChinese divorce court orders husband to pay wife for years of housework\\nZhang\\u2019s decision to give birth to such a large number of children was not driven by gender preference, she said; her first two children were a boy and a girl. She simply hopes never to be alone.\\n\\n\\u201cWhen my husband\\u2019s away on trips and the older kids are also away for study, I still have other children around me ... When I\\u2019m old, they can visit me in different batches,\\u201d she said.'