Father-Of-3 Zhang Yimou Was Fined S$1.5mil For Breaching China’s One-Child Policy

Like many other countries in the world, China is experiencing issues with declining fertility rates and an ageing population. This comes in spite of the abolishment of its controversial one-child policy in 2016, which was replaced with a two-child limit.

In another bid to combat the problem, the Chinese government announced last week that married couples will now be allowed to have up to three children, something that renowned filmmaker Zhang Yimou was punished for in the past.

Back in 2014, the 71-year-old was slapped with a hefty 7.48mil yuan (S$1.5mil) fine for breaching the one-child policy by having two “excessive children” — as he put it in his open letter of apology — with his wife Chen Ting, 39.

The couple are parents to 20-year-old son Yinan, who is also a director like his dad, 17-year-old son Yiding, and 14-year-old daughter Yijiao.

All three kids were born before the director and Chen Ting officially registered their marriage in 2011.

On the day the three-child limit was announced, Chen Ting took to her Weibo to respond to the news, posting a photo of the announcement and writing, “Task completed ahead of schedule.”

Yimou’s work studio account then shared her post and added three flexed biceps emojis in a display of support.

However, Chen Ting’s post and Yimou’s response apparently didn’t sit too well with some netizens, who accused the couple of deliberately trying to pressure the government into giving them a refund of their S$1.5mil fine.

“Since Director Zhang dared to breach the one-child policy, would he dare to ask for his 7.48mil yuan back?” one scoffed.

Chen Ting was also slammed for various other reasons, such as viewing having children as a “task” (come on, it’s not that deep) and for being so proud of her ‘accomplishments’ when she had “obviously violated the law”.

Photos: Chen Ting/Weibo