You're one in a billion, baby

2005-01-10 12:48

Beijing - Infant formula companies and nappy manufacturers are knocking on the door of China's newly-born 1.3 billionth citizen in an effort to capitalise on the baby boy's nationwide media exposure, state press said on Monday.

But so far the family of Zhang Yichi has turned down all offers apart from one from an insurance company, which they are still thinking over, the Beijing Daily Messenger reported.

"It's lucky to be China's 1.3 billionth citizen," father Zhang Tong told the paper.

"But it's unnecessary to act as image representatives for so many products, since Zhang Yichi is too young and too many commercial activities will have a negative impact on the boy's healthy growth."

"We should face the coincidence of being China's 1.3 billionth citizen calmly."

Zhang was born early last Thursday and proclaimed by the government to be the nation's 1.3 billionth person, instantly becoming the poster boy of the ongoing "one child" family planning policy.

The National Bureau of Statistics had calculated that the 1.3 billionth citizen would be born on that day, January 6.

Zhang's birth was widely reported, with family planners using the occasion to underscore the huge pressure the world's biggest population is having on China's environment, resources and more importantly jobs and the social security system.

China's family planners say that without the stringent family planning policy, the nation's population would have hit 1.3 billion people four years ago.

- AFP