Mom, baby versus the world

Single mothers in China not only face social discrimination, they also have to fight against a system that simply does not accommodate them. From the public hospitals that require a marriage certificate before they will admit pregnant women, to the battle to register a one-parent child for hukou, single mothers face problems at every turn.

Three years ago, Zhang Pei (not her real name), discovered she was pregnant one month after splitting from her foreign boyfriend. The boyfriend had already returned to his home country, but she decided to keep the baby and not tell the father she was pregnant.

Perhaps naively, Zhang, who is in her mid-30s, thought if she simply paid the fine to the district family planning commission for having a baby out of wedlock, there would be no further problems.