HE Weiqiong, 52, along with her two brothers and sister, had a family reunion in their hometown in southern Guangdong Province last week to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

She was happy to be with her 80-year-old mother and large family, but missed her 28-year-old daughter, who works in eastern Jiangsu Province and was not able to join them.

Like most of her peers, He has only one child.

Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of China's one-child policy. The Communist Party of China Central Committee issued an open letter on September 25, 1980, calling for Party and Communist Youth League members to have only one child in a bid to improve lives.

The letter said that, for families, more children would consume more money and food and hinder the improvement of living standards, and for the country, the population growth would affect the "accumulation of funds" for the nation's modernization drive.

"As I only have one child, my daughter's education and quality of life could be ensured in a family that had just made ends meet," He said.

But after her daughter married last year, she started to worry.

"My daughter and son-in-law are both only children, so they may feel it is difficult to take care of their four parents when they are busy with work."

She said the one-child policy suited the national situation at the time but single children could feel lonely and the elderly might be happier to see many children and grandchildren to carry on the family line.

Xia Haiyong, director of the Institute for Population Research at Nanjing University said about 400 million births were prevented over the three decades of the policy.

The Office of the China National Committee on Ageing says the number of people aged 60 or above stood at 167 million in 2009, or 12.5 percent of the 1.3-billion population.

Xia said the emergence of the aging problem is a symbol of social progress and improving living standards, but also a challenge for the country's services for the aged.

He suggested the promotion of community-based care for the elderly.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• celebrate [´selibreit] vt.庆祝；表扬；赞美 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• league [li:g] n.同盟；社团 (初中英语单词)
• consume [kən´sju:m] v.毁灭；浪费；憔悴 (初中英语单词)
• improvement [im´pru:vmənt] n.改进，改善，进步 (初中英语单词)
• affect [ə´fekt] vt.影响；感动；假装 (初中英语单词)
• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• institute [´institju:t] n.学院 vt.建立；设置 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• challenge [´tʃælindʒ] n.&vt.向....挑战；怀疑 (初中英语单词)
• festival [´festivəl] n.节日；庆祝；欢庆 (高中英语单词)
• communist [´kɔmjunist] n.共产主义者 (高中英语单词)
• hinder [´hində, ´haində] vt.阻止 a.后面的 (高中英语单词)
• symbol [´simbəl] n.符号；象征 (高中英语单词)
• promotion [prə´məuʃən] n.促进；提升；倡仪 (高中英语单词)
• anniversary [,æni´və:səri] n.周年纪念(日) (英语四级单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• elderly [´eldəli] a. 较老的，年长的 (英语四级单词)
• reunion [ri:´ju:njən] n.再结合；再联合；团聚 (英语六级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)