According to the family planning policies, Hong Youfu, a restaurant owner in Fangcun District of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, can only have one child. But in line with traditional thinking that every family needs a son to carry on the family line and pressure from his parents, Hong decided to have a second baby.

"We are so happy to have a son, but of course the fine is also expected," Hong said. Being rich, Hong doesn't have to play hide and seek with the family planning force. He simply paid a fine of 80,000 yuan-which is unaffordable for an ordinary rural family-to have a son and obtain a registered residence for the baby.

Chen is often seen walking around her community in Dongshan District of Guangzhou with a baby in her arms followed by a little boy of about four or five years old. An urban family like Chen's is not allowed to have a second baby according to family planning policies, so other people in the neighborhood wonder how she made it.

"It's just a matter of money. After the baby is born, we just pay a fine and it is ok," Chen said.

Since China implemented family planning policies in the 1970s, excessive birth rates have occurred mostly in rural areas where the attitude of viewing sons as superior to daughters still prevails. But now wealthy couples and celebrities have also begun to have larger families, according to Zhang Weiqing, Minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.

Rich violators

In recent years, many rich people and celebrities have preferred to pay a fine to have more babies and this has become a common problem challenging family planners, according to Mou Weiyong, Deputy Director of the Liaoning Provincial Population and Family Planning Commission.

Excessive birth rates are often seen in rural areas as a result of traditional thinking that values men above women. Now wealthy families are choosing to have more children as a symbol of social status. In their eyes, having several children is like owning an expensive car or a second home-it is a label that distinguishes them from the average man on the street.

In January 2007, about 68 percent of 7,917 people surveyed by China Youth Daily and Tencent Information Center said they viewed excessive birth rates among the rich as a problem.

"Such a situation is common nationwide and is quite critical now," Yuan Weiguo, head of the news office of the Jiujiang Population and Family Planning Commission in Jiangxi Province, told Beijing Review.

In 2006, Professor Zheng Zhiguo with Guangdong Provincial Party School carried out research into the population of Guangdong, a relatively developed province of China. He concluded that the province's population has far exceeded its optimum size and is coming close to its limit. The main reason for this overpopulation is excessive birth rates among large income earners and the owners of private enterprises, he said.

Also last year, the Shenyang Population and Family Planning Commission publicized statistics showing that high income families are increasingly prepared to pay fines in order to have larger families. Between 1990 and 2000 there were only 76 cases of birth rate rule violations among rich families. Since 2000 that figure has jumped to 700.

Zhang also commented recently that an increasing trend for larger families contradicts the current family planning frame, which has resulted in a rebound in population figures. Another survey by the National Population and Family Planning Commission in 2002 showed that the percentage of urban white-collar workers choosing to have two babies is 35 percent higher than those choosing to have only one.