"FEWER CHILDREN, BETTER LIFE"

"The more sons, the more blessings" has been what Chinese people believed throughout history, but the country's family planning policy has been trying to instill the slogan "fewer children, better life" into people's minds, especially farmers.

Lu Juan, 30, in Jiangsu's Jintan, obtained a 100,000-yuan (14,700 U.S. dollars) micro-credit loan on Friday from her town's family planning office for her aquaculture business. Having only one child was a criterion for applying for the loan.

She could have had another child as Lu and her husband are both only children, but she decided not to have another and the couple are dedicated to raising the only child.

Song Yueqin, director of the Jintan Family Planning Bureau, said in the past, persuading people not to have more children was "extremely difficult" as people would "go through the back door" to secure a birth quota. Some even went abroad to give birth.

But China still managed to maintain a low fertility level. The natural population growth rate stood at 5.05/1,000 last year, which has also brought about aging problems.

The Office of the China National Committee on Ageing says the number of people aged 60 or above stood at 167 million in 2009, or 12.5 percent of the 1.3-billion population.

Xia said the emergence of the aging problem is a symbol of social progress and improving living standards, but it also challenges the country's services for the aged.

He suggested promoting community-based care for the aged as the pressure on only children means they may not have enough time to care for aging parents.