Hong Kong Outlook

Increasingly, Dinks Make Their Mark On Hong Kong

By VIVIAN CHIU

More couples in Hong Kong are choosing freedom and financial comfort over children. As in the West, they are increasingly enjoying the benefits of having children later in life, or not at all. The dinks trend,which took root in the 1990s, continues to grow in popularity.

According to the Census and Statistics Department, the rate of women having children at an early age is declining. About 80 percent of women born in 1936 gave birth for the first time before the age of 30. The corresponding figure dropped to 44 percent for those born in 1966.

Birth rates in Hong Kong have also fallen, from 16.8 per 1,000 people in 1981 to 10.1 in 1996. At the same time, the percentage of two-person households has been increasing steadily, from 16 percent in 1986 to 18.8 percent in 1996.

Dora Chu and Lau Ka-keung, both 38, have been married for 14 years, but they keep putting off having children.

Chu explains: "When we were young we wanted to have our own world. We didn't want children to become the center of our life, demanding every minute of our attention."

Her husband encouraged her to have her own career.

"Besides working for economic reasons, I can derive satisfaction from having my own career," Chu said. "After being married for so many years, I don't think I am socially left behind." On weekdays, they mostly eat out. In fast-food restaurants, a set dinner costs about HK$35 (¥632). On weekends, they have a dim sum lunch with their family, as is the custom of most Hong Kong families.

Aware that dinks are content to focus their time and money on themselves, Professor Lee Ming-kwan of Polytechnic University conducted a survey in 1993 to try to determine the links among marriage, kids and happiness.

More than half of the 344 adults surveyed said that having children interfered too much with the freedom of parents, while almost 70 percent did not agree that "the purpose of marriage is to have children" or that "married couples must have children." However, 60 percent said a marriage that did not produce children was not fulfilling.

"It appears that couples harbor a lot of doubt about having children and making sacrifices for them," Lee says. "This is consistent with a finding from our 1990 survey in which many respondents not only questioned the traditional value of having many children but even doubted the necessity of having children at all."

Yet he found that by comparison with citizens of Britain, the United States and Germany, Hong Kong men and women were both the most and the least "pro-children."

"In Hong Kong, parents are exposed to contrasting values," he says, explaining the apparent contradiction. "While they are brought up believing in the benefits of having a large family, they also are confronted by modern ways of thinking that emphazise individualism and self-fulfillment."

Though both sexes have mixed feelings about having children, women are more inclined to balk at raising a family. Child care is still considered primarily women's responsibility, regardless of whether or not they work full-time, according to Lee.

Another couple, Mathew Wong and Kada Leung, both 34, have been married for three years and, like the previous couple, still aren't prepared to have children.

Leung is an insurance agent and her husband works in a trading firm. Their combined income is $30,000(¥542,100) a month.

They live on the third floor of a village house in Shatin. Without children, they have the flexibility to invite friends over for a barbecue any time the couple want. With extra cash, they can travel. They've been to the United States, Canada and most countries in Southeast Asia.

"We feel comfortable with our present lifestyle but we're not entirely satisfied. We'd like to buy our own home in Hong Kong," Leung said. "At this stage, we are too busy to have kids. We'll plan for it after two years."

Both Chu and Leung, women in their 30s, are aware of the risks of having babies at an older age. They also know it would be more tiring physically to raise children.

If more Hong Kong couples choose to remain childless, however, some see social problems developing when they get old. Traditionally Chinese couples expect that their children will take care of them when they get old.

"Raising children is like investing in their old age," Lee said. "Now that couples don't want to have children, they better save for their old age because Hong Kong doesn't have good retirement benefits."

Both Chu and her husband don't have retirement benefits, as they are employed on a contractual basis, which is the trend in Hong Kong now.

"When we retire, we'll rely on our own savings," Chu said.

Assistant Professor Alice Chong of City University is worried that there will not be a younger generation to replace the aging population if couples continue to remain childless.

"In the 1980s, Hong Kong entered the aging society category. There is now more than 13 percent of the population aged above 65," Chong said. "If the older population continues to grow, they will be highly dependent on the younger or middle-aged population."

Nonetheless, most Chinese couples are not ruling out having children. It's just that, increasingly, they are delaying until they are financially secure and can give their kids the best in a materialistic environment.

Shukan ST: June 5, 1998

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