Online responses to the ending of the one-child policy in China: implications for preconception care

Figures & data

Table 1. Popular government- and non-government-affiliated online news media in China.

Affiliation	Site	Domain	Type of news media
Government-affiliated	People.cn (人民网)	people.cn	A prominent national news web portal; it includes forums that provide a platform for interactions between the public and government officials
	Xinhuanet (新华网)	xinhuanet.com	The official news agency of the state government
	China.com.cn (中国网)	china.com.cn, china.org.cn	A web portal affiliated with the State Council Press Office
	CCTV.com (央视网)	cntv.cn	A national web-based television broadcaster
Non-government-affiliated	QQ.com (腾讯网)	qq.com	A web portal
	Sina (新浪网)	sina.com.cn	A web portal
	Ifeng.com (凤凰网)	ifeng.com	A Hong Kong- and web-based television broadcaster
	NetEase (网易)	163.com	A web portal
	Sohu (搜狐)	sohu.com	A web portal
	China.com (中华网)	china.com	One of the earliest Chinese web portals

The order of the listing above is based on the ranking of Chinese websites. Retrieved from http://www.chinarank.org.cn/on 20 November 2015. These rankings are based on usage/number of visits.

Table 2. Ending of the one-child policy news release across online news media sites on 29 October 2015, ordered by broadcasting times.

News source	News link	News release time
Xinhuanet (新华网)	http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-10/29/c_1116982932.htm	18.10
Sina (新浪网)	http://news.sina.com.cn/c/nd/2015-10-29/doc-ifxkhcfq0963784.shtml	18.34
NetEase (网易)	http://news.163.com/15/1029/18/B746VT6C0001124J.html	18.34
Ifeng.com (凤凰网)	http://news.ifeng.com/a/20151029/46044942_0.shtml	18.35
China.com.cn (中国网)	http://news.china.com.cn/txt/2015-10/29/content_36928749.htm	18.39
QQ.com (腾讯网)	http://news.qq.com/a/20151029/057219.htm	18.43
People.cn (人民网)	http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/1029/c1001-27755508.html	18.55
CCTV.com (央视网)	http://news.cntv.cn/2015/10/29/ARTI1446116645604440.shtml	19.05
Sohu.com (搜狐)	http://baobao.sohu.com/20151029/n424614019.shtml	19.15
China.com (中华网)	http://news.china.com/zh_cn/focus/wzqh/11174588/20151029/20655319.html	19.45

Table 3. User options under posted comments across different online news media.

	User options under posted comments
	Agrees			Disagrees
News source	Thumbs up (sign/顶/赞)	Recommends(推荐)	Supports(支持)	Thumbsdown(sign)	Opposes(反对)	Reply(回复)	Save(收藏)	Share(分享)	Copy(复制)
China.com.cn (中国网)			Yes		Yes	Yes
CCTV.com (央视网)						Yes			Yes
QQ.com (腾讯网)	Yes			Yes		Yes
Sina (新浪网)			Yes			Yes		Yes
Ifeng.com (凤凰网)		Yes				Yes
NetEase (网易)	Yes					Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sohu.com (搜狐)	Yes					Yes		Yes
China.com (中华网)	Yes					Yes		Yes

Because People.cn (人民网) and Xinhuanet (新华网) do not provide platforms for making comments, they are automatically excluded from the table.

People.cn (人民网) and Xinhuanet (新华网) are excluded from Table III because they did not provide platforms for making comments. On the news page, People.cn (人民网) provides direct links to social media sites, such as t.people.com.cn (人民微博), but Xinhuanet (新华网) does not provide direct links to any social media sites.

Table 4. Initial postings by users from the time of the news release night to midnight on 29 October 2015, ordered by time of the first posting.

Affiliation	News source	Time of the first posting	Time between news release and first posting in minutes	Number of postings in response to the news
Government-affiliated	CCTV.com (央视网)	22.18^a	193	1
	China.com.cn (中国网)	23.16	277	1
Total				2
Average			235	1
Non-government-affiliated	Sina (新浪网)	18.37	3	2,148
	Ifeng.com (凤凰网)	18.41	6	2,522
	NetEase (网易)	19.01	27	180
	QQ.com (腾讯网)	19.05	22	75
	Sohu.com (搜狐)	19.27	12	2
	China.com (中华网)	19.47	2	32
Total				4,959
Average			12	862.5

^a CCTV.com’s (央视网) time of the first initial posting was stamped as ‘2015-10-29 10:18:52’. It is referred to as 10.18 p.m. here, as the news was released in the evening.

Table 5. Number of initial postings based on the number of thumbs-up/recommends/supports as of 30 November 2015 (at the time of data collection).

News source for the postings	Number of postings based on the number of thumbs-up/recommends/supports
	0–99	100–499	500–999	≥1,000
China.com.cn (中国网)	1	0	0	0
CCTV.com (央视网)	1	0	0	0
QQ.com (腾讯网)	61	2	2	10
Sina (新浪网)	2,084	47	3	14
Ifeng.com (凤凰网)	2,468	49	2	3
NetEase (网易)	160	12	2	6
Sohu.com (搜狐)	2	0	0	0
China.com (中华网)	31	1	0	0
Total number of postings	4,808	111	9	33

People.cn (人民网) and Xinhuanet (新华网) are excluded from the table.

Table 6. Highlights of postings receiving 1,000 or more thumbs-up/recommends/supports.

Posting with highest and lowest thumbs-up/recommends/supports		Posting time	Posting content
QQ.com (腾讯网)	Lowest: 1,084	23.23	Few parents think of themselves when it comes to having a second child. I believe most parents want to provide company for their (first) child, so that there is one more blood-related relative. Think about how cold this society is nowadays. Blood-related relatives are more dependable. There are not many dependable friends and classmates.
	Highest: 4,495	22.07	There are advantages to having another one. After all, one child is too lonely. Having two [children] offers companionship [to each other], and [they] can take turns to take care of [the] elderly in the future. Having just one child is very hard and risky. What if … what will the parents [of the only child] do when they get old? Thus, have a second child. Although it will be hard and tiring for the time being, it will get better [later].
Sina (新浪网)	Lowest: 1,128	19.21	This news is too late for the generation born in the 1970s.
	Highest: 8,546	18.37	Too bad, the news came too late. I am too old [to have a second child].
Ifeng.com (凤凰网)	Lowest: 1,029	19.11	Few people will bear a second child. Do they think human beings are machines that they can just switch on and off as they wish?
	Highest: 1,483	18.41	Very timely, it’s a must.
NetEase (网易)	Lowest: 1,195	19.07	Start working on it tonight.
	Highest: 3,130	19.58	My generation becomes the only one-child generation in Chinese history ever.

China.com.cn (中国网), CCTV.com (央视网), Sohu.com (搜狐), and China.com (中华网) are excluded from the table because none of their initial postings received 1,000 or more thumbs-up/recommends/supports.