Many Chinese rich skirt one-child policy

BEIJING (Reuters) - Many Chinese celebrities have either changed their nationality or given their children a foreign nationality to skirt the one-child policy, state media said on Monday as it announced yet another crackdown.

"Beijing will impose fines on celebrities who violate the one-child rule that will be much higher than for common citizens," Xinhua news agency said, quoting a senior family planning official.

Earlier measures, issued by the National Population and Family Planning Commission and 10 other agencies in September, also singled out the elite as needing to play their part in controlling the country's population.

China credits family planning laws with preventing 400 million births and thereby boosting prosperity in a country that now has 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the world's total.

But the policy has also exacerbated a gender imbalance, where access to ultrasound tests and gender-selective abortions have resulted in there being 118 boys born for every 100 girls, potentially threatening social stability as more men have difficulty finding wives.

"In recent years, more celebrities such as film stars and sports stars have faced media criticism over the size of their families," Xinhua said, naming one football star who was fined 50,000 yuan (about $7,000) for having a second child.

"His annual salary is 5 million yuan, one of the highest for a football player in China," Xinhua said.

($1=7.241 Yuan)

(Reporting by Nick Macfie; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)