This is the last part of a conversation I had with a cab driver who took me to the airport in Shenzhen. The conversation was rather long, so I’ve split it into 6 parts. Click here if you’ve missed part 1 (“Is learning English hard for you?”), part 2 (“Do you know Deng Xiaoping?”), part 3 (Weddings and gifts), part 4 (“Do you like China?”) or part 5 (“The most important thing is happiness”).
Cab driver: “Does Austria also have birth planning?”
I: “It doesn’t.”
He: “I’ve heard that nowadays people don’t get that many children anymore, even if they are allowed to have more children.”
I: “You’re right. People in Austria will usually have 1-2 kids, or no kids at all.”
He: “In my generation having a big family was the norm.”
I: “My family is also quite big. We’re 8 kids. Do you have brothers and sisters?”
He: “My mother gave birth to 4 kids. But my brothers and sisters are all gone (走了 zǒu le). Do you know what that means?”
I: “I do. We have a similar expression in German.”
He: “One brother died when he was a toddler. The others died as adults.”
Has anyone ever told you about their family? I’d love to read your comments.
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What a sad ending to your conversation! People tell me about their families on plane rides, but most of the time it’s only the happy stories.
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It is, we did talk some more though and the conversation didn’t have such a sad ending in real life.
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I had a similar conversation once which was about why people in Western Nations have often either very few children (1-2) or none at all. Well, the conclusion of the discussion was that most likely it would be the same in China now even if they would get rid of all the restrictions when it comes to have children. Sure, in countryside they would most likely continue to have multiple children as now but many in the city would stick to either one, maximum two children, just due to the high financial burden it means within cities. Anywys, this is just my/ our opinion of that day.
No to another topic now, it is always sad to hear such stories when people tell about their families as there is also not much you can add to it except of course the person themself finds a topic to continue 🙂
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