Questions of Mixed Race and the Birth Rate

Catching up on my article material, I've been meaning on writing up this one for some time. A while ago there was a great story in TIME about a contestant for the Chinese equivalent of American Idol:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1925589,00.html

In it, we are introduced to Lou Jing "Born to a Chinese mother and an African-American father whom she has never met."

I was intrigued to read how the Chinese were struggling with the mixed raced question which no doubt will become even more prominent with the rise in mixed race couplings.

What is more interesting is how Taiwan will deal with this trend as well, especially when considering that Taiwanese are marrying outsiders more than ever and the fact that these couplings are producing more children than an average Taiwan coupling would.

"In many societies, photos of four-member families wouldn't be much to stop and take notice of. But as of this year, Taiwan has the lowest birthrate in the world, with just one baby born per woman."

"One-third [of students polled] didn't plan to have any children for fear of losing two precious things: money and freedom."

Upon asking a DINK (double income no kid) woman why she had no children:

"I think our generation is more selfish," she says. "When you have children, you have to sacrifice a lot, and I don't want to do that."

Here, however, is a very sobering thought for Taiwanese like her to consider:

"Many more men have also been marrying women from other Asian countries like China and Vietnam, both countries where women are statistically inclined to have more children. China, even with the government's one-child policy, still has a birthrate of 1.6, compared with Taiwan's 1.0 (Vietnam's is 2.1). Today, 1 in 8 babies in Taiwan is born to a non-Taiwanese mother."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945937,00.html

So there you have it. Taiwan's societal makeup is changing in ways never imagined. The question of what is Taiwanese may in fact be a moot point in a matter of years when a large portion of the population is actually a combination and well on its way to becoming quite a mixed society.

Poor Lou Jing had the unfortunate fate of facing the xenophobia that occurs in the Chinese world, especially towards people of darker skin (even in Taiwan). Here's hope that seemingly homogeneous societies like Taiwan can come to terms with a more heterogeneous future.

With that, I leave you with Liu Xin Mei (pictured). She's 4'10" and she's African/Chinese. And smokin'. What a combination!
http://www.moko.cc/meimeixin/