China's northeast region is suffering from declining birth rates. 

The gift of love is becoming more and more expensive. When it comes to having more children, young parents in China are less influenced by calls from the government. Instead, they are increasingly asserting their right to choose.

"I certainly won't have a second child. My main concerns are the cost of education and healthcare," said a mother from Shenyang City in northeast China's Liaoning Province. "I have two kids. I must say the cost of raising children these days is not something every family can afford," a father added.

"I love children, but if I have another baby, my wife would have to stop working and become a full-time mother, we cannot afford that," another father from Shenyang City told CGTN.

When China terminated the one-child policy in 2015, a baby boom was expected at the time. But judging by the birth rate over the past few years, it hasn't materialized. But it's not just about money. 

Shi Yueming, an engineer who works for a large state-owned enterprise in Shenyang City, has just returned to work after maternity leave. Like many other well-educated urban women, she's pursuing a career rather than focusing on having another child.

"For me, the cost of maternity leave is too high to afford. Being an engineer requires one to constantly focus on the forefront of technology. I felt like I was lagging behind after returning to work," said Shi.

The latest statistics show three provinces in China's northeast are at the bottom of the nation's fertility ranking, at less than 0.7 percent in 2019, far below the national average of one percent.

Zhang Sining, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told CGTN that in the past, having a baby was more or less the nature of marriage, whereas people are more rational nowadays. By introducing social policies like mandatory maternity leave, improving childcare facilities and the preschool education system as well as offering tax incentives, some changes can be brought about in the future.

With many young parents in China seeing parenthood as a personal choice rather than an act of social responsibility, experts say the decreasing birth rate is a complex problem that will require a lot more than abolishing population controls.