Population Day 4

Zhang Yujia, 6, watches cartoons in the house her parents bought in Chao Le village, in eastern China’s Fujian province, with a $100,000 interest-free government loan. The rural couple received the money as a reward for agreeing to stick to two girls and not try for a son. For three decades, the world’s most populous country has moved aggressively to limit its population growth. Yet the nation’s huge and still-growing numbers, along with its rising affluence, are taking a heavy toll on the environment.