Do you have children?

你有孩子吗? (Nǐ yǒu háizi ma?): Do you have children?

Qin Gang addresses journalists at a press conference in 2009. (Xinhua)

On June 9, 2009, a BBC reporter asked Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang about the justification for compulsory installation of Green Dam Youth Escort filtering software on personal computers, ostensibly to block pornography. Qin replied:

Do you have children? If you have children or if you plan to have children, you will surely understand a parent’s concern about harmful information on the Internet. China’s Internet is open. The Chinese government plays an active role in promoting the healthy development of the Internet.

你有孩子吗？如果你有孩子或者你打算要孩子，你应该能理解作为家长对互联网传播有害信息的关切。中国的互联网是开放的，中国政府积极致力于推动互联网健康发展。

Installation was later made voluntary. The Green Dam project was shuttered the following year.

Qin has made similar statements: in response to a journalist’s question about YouTube being blocked in China, he famously said, “As for what you can and cannot watch, watch what you can watch, and don’t watch what you cannot watch.”

See also bird anus.