Should Parents of Chinese Exchange Students Who Died in New Zealand Be Compensated?

Should Chinese Parents Be Compensated For Loss of Only Children?

March 13, 2011

Being predeceased by your child is incredibly painful for any parent, but an official said that loss is exacerbated if the mother and father have a sole offspring. This is the case for the families of the Chinese exchange students who died during the New Zealand earthquake last month. An Associated Press report said:

Chinese Embassy official Cheng Lei said Monday that Chinese quake victims had lost not just their only child, but also a future breadwinner.

He said New Zealand should consider providing additional financial assistance to those families.

"You can expect how lonely, how desperate they are ... not only from losing loved ones, but losing almost entirely the major source of economic assistance after retirement," Cheng told Radio New Zealand.

What's your opinion?

Source: Thinkstock

6 Comments

phatE 2 years 9 weeks

wow... you failed to mention the "one-child policy" that has been in place since 1979.. when you compare china to NZ, or now even Japan - you need to mention this - or else your article is completely irrelevant.. all loss is horrible, the loss of a child whether you have 1 or 3 is horrible.. the only reason the chinese government is offering some sort of compensation is because they have literally banned families from having multiple children. please provide relevant information in articles like this.. the chinese government is basically still communist - you can't compare that to countries who aren't.. it's completely different.

Bettye Wayne 2 years 10 weeks

I voted no, and I agree with Noetje. What with the one-child thing I could see why parents might need help, but there's no logical reason NZ should pay for it!

amber512 2 years 10 weeks

This makes little sense to me...

Noetje 2 years 10 weeks

If any government should pay, it's the Chinese government. It's their rule and it's not like the NZ government could have prevented the eathquake.

sarahliz1624 2 years 10 weeks

I think they should, only becauseof the one child policy. These parents may have only one child because that's all they are allowed to have.

lizlee89 2 years 10 weeks

I don't speak from experience but it makes sense that, in the grand scheme of things, it would be more painful and difficult for parents to lose their only child that it would be if they have other children (although I doubt that a person who loses one child feels that their pain is less). However, I don't see why the government should pay for those adults' future. If your child grows up and doesn't help you out, should the government aid you? No, and, to me, this is no different. Government should not be held responsible to help people with every thing that goes wrong. We're all dealt different tough breaks, and we need to learn to take care of ourselves rather than always depend on government assistance...

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