An official with China's top family planning authority on Sunday refuted the rumors¹ that newlyweds must pay a deposit before getting married to encourage couples to give birth to a second child.

中国最高计划生育机构一名官员星期日驳斥了新婚夫妇在结婚前必须缴纳押金以鼓励二胎生育的谣言。

"The collection of a 'second-child deposit' is totally a rumor², and we have never issued such a policy," an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) told the Global Times on Sunday. "The NHFPC has not received any complaints about the collection of such deposits," added the official.

“'二胎保证金'完全是个谣言，我们从来没有发布过这样的政策，”国家卫生和计划生育委员会（卫计委）的一位官员星期日告诉《环球时报》。“卫计委没有收到任何关于收取保证金的投诉，”这位官员补充道。

Some Net users have complained on social media platform Sina Weibo that local marriage registry offices were collecting "second-child deposits" ranging from 1,000 yuan ($155) to 8,000 yuan. They claimed that the money would be returned after the family's second child is born. Similar information about such "deposits" has been circulating on the Internet since 2011.

一些网友在新浪微博上抱怨当地婚姻登记处收取了1000元（155美元）到8000元不等的“二胎保证金”。他们表示，在家里的第二个孩子出生后，这些钱将退回。类似的“保证金”传言自2011年以来就已经在互联网上流传了。

China introduced its family planning policy in the 1970s. The policy was relaxed for the first time in 2013, allowing couples to have a second child if either parent was an only child.

中国在20世纪70年代开始实行计划生育政策，该政策在2013年第一次放松，允许夫妻双方都是独生子女的家庭生育二胎。

China further relaxed the family planning policy in January 2016, allowing all couples to have a second child. Population experts previously³ interpreted the move as a shift in the mindset from regarding population as a burden to encouraging childbearing as a way to tackle problems caused by a labor shortage and an aging society.

在2016年1月，中国进一步放宽了计划生育政策，允许所有夫妇可以生育二胎。人口专家之前对此做出了解读，表示这是从以人口为负担到鼓励生育的观念上的转变，政府希望以此来解决劳动力短缺和社会老龄化造成的问题。