To have a baby or not?

The population in Hong Kong has been  aging over the past few decades. The proportion of  old people in the total population is increasing despite the decreasing number of young people in Hong Kong. Why do we have such a situation? Many young married couples now prefer not to have children after their marriages. Since people in Hong Kong now enjoy a large extent of freedom, young married couples may think that having a baby or a child is a heavy burden to their individual l freedom. In this essay, I will examine the reasons for the conflict between the two generations, then, I will argue that the old generation should not force the young generation, and let them make  their own decisions.

In a modern capitalist economic world like Hong Kong, young men and women regard time as money. Rushing to work and committing themselves to their careers are the everyday life of Hong Kong citizens. As a result of the prevailing idea of materialism, the goal of citizens is to earn a great deal of money or to become a billionaire. In order to make their dreams come true, they put all their effort to  their careers and even ignore their normal family lives.

Owing to the social situation, many young married couples do not want to have children in their 'golden working age'. They regard children as a burden and obstacles to their career. Having a baby means the end of the normal social life and freedom they previously enjoyed. Those young economically independent women will give up their jobs in order to look after their children and take care of  their housework. They will no longer enjoy their job fulfillment and satisfaction. However, these young women will eventually become housewives - an unpleasant job for women in our new generation.

Many young married couples prefer to enjoy a honeymoon after their marriages that enable them to live in their world of only two people. However, having children will disturb their sweet time having together. Besides, the household expenditure will also become large since they have to spend much money on the children. Young couples will lose their economic power to purchase whatever they want. They will be bound to the heavy expenditure of their family. As a result, young married couples do not want to have children too early. Maybe after they have solid economic foundation, they prefer to have children then.

Despite the will of the young couples, their parents, however, put them under great pressure. The people from the old generation deny the pursuit of money and prefer to have a warm family. This view is entirely different from what the new generation think and thus conflict triggers between the new and the old generations.

In the past, people preferred to have a large family. Since the economy at that time was based on agriculture, the demand of labor for farm work was high. Thus, the families in the past had many children. Moreover, the traditional Chinese regarded family life as the most important. They would like to have children. Nowadays, only those people from the old world remains to have such a concept. As a result, they will persuade their sons/daughters to have children. Besides, the Chinese concept of continuing the family line and regeneration is still deep-rooted in modern Hong Kong. In order to  continue their family lines, the traditional Chinese like to have grandsons to continue their families in the new generation. In addition, the old people may feel lonely and bored in their lives since they don't have any jobs. They would like to take care and look after their grandsons as a means of  spending their time. Therefore, the old generation put the young married couples under great pressure to have children.

All in all, keeping and continuing our generation is vital to the traditional Chinese. However, a good  family plan is also important for the development of a wholesome and happy family. Young married couples are mature enough to decide whether to have children or not. Let the young couples choose what is appropriate to them!