Most local office ladies have no plans to give birth to a child, at least in the near future, due to the high work and economic pressure, a recent survey suggests.

The poll, conducted by one of the country's leading Web-based headhunters Zhaopin.com, polled more than 2,000 office ladies aged between 20 to 35 years via the Internet about their attitude toward pregnancy and children.

About 33 percent of the women polled said they neither wished to have a child at the moment nor have pregnancy plans for the future, including 2 percent who vowed to lead a life of dink - double income and no kids - in the long term.

Most of the dink-pursuing group are young ladies with a Master's degree and less than two years of work experience, the survey said. Meanwhile, half the respondents felt it wasn't the right time for them to get pregnant, although they hoped to have a child in the future.

Only 14 percent respondents had a strong desire for kids, mostly those with 10 years of work experience or more. "As society develops, the traditional Chinese philosophy of having children to provide for one's old age is facing a great challenge," said Yu Xia, an analyst at Zhaopin.

The survey suggested that lack of time and energy and the economic situation were the two main reasons preventing office ladies from taking on the responsibilities of motherhood, with 27 percent respondents attributing their dink situation to these two reasons.

A recent online report indicated that parents spend at least 1,000 yuan (US$120) on their children each month, which accounts for about 20 percent of a normal family's monthly income. Hu Qianli, a 20-something government official who married two years ago, said that she and her husband had already become tired of paying off house and car mortgages.

"How can we have the extra money to raise a child," Hu asked, adding that their busy work schedule will likely deprive them of the time to take care of the child. Dink life, without the burden of a child, can allow more freedom to office workers who are already bothered by their daily work, Ellen Wang, marketing manager at a trading company, claimed. Besides, nearly 40 percent of people surveyed said that too much studies and extra burden prevent children from enjoying a happy childhood nowadays.

(Shanghai Daily June 2, 2005)