A couple in China’s Jiangsu province have ten children.
The parents, 58-year-old Liu Xiangying and his wife, 40-year-old Yi Mamei, have five daughters and five sons due to a lack of understanding around contraception.
After being married for over two decades the family’s eldest children are two girls 22-year-old Liu huan and 16-year-old Liu Min. Following on, is their first –born son 13-year-old Liu Cheng, another daughter, 11-year-old Liu Xiaoxiao, and two sons, 10-year-old Liu Peng and 7-year-old Liu Chang.
Their seventh child Liu Zhuang drowned in a nearby swimming hole when he was five, which the mother said she cries everyday about. Their youngest boy, Liu Jian, is four-years-old with the most recent addition being newly-born twin sisters.
This large Chinese family lives in a small one bedroom flat in Chefang township, where the owner of the building also rents them a shed for the remainder of the family to live.
However they are facing even bigger problems since the father, Liu, fell ill and sought medical attention drawing authorities to his nine-over-capacity family. Until now Liu has made a living by collecting and selling garbage. Now he has become ill, three of the children have had to leave their education due to a lack of money.
Chinese communist party officials say they have not yet decided whether the couple will be punished.
But for father Liu, the lack of a welfare network now he has been taken ill is punishment enough: 'I don't know how I am going to feed my family. 'I talked with my wife about offering some of them for adoptions but we can't bear to be parted from them, we love them too much.' Doctors say they don't know when the Liu will be back on his feet, saying: 'He is worn out, ten children to feed and no break in what is a seven days a week job, year in and year out.' According to the couple, they will 'adopt measures' to avoid pregnancy in the future.
