China punishes man who altered headline to ‘two-wife’ policy

A woman leads a child past Chinese parents who have children born outside the country’s one-child policy protesting outside the family planning commission in a bid to have their fines canceled in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. Starting this year, all Chinese couples are allowed to have two children. For decades, China’s family planning policy commonly known as the one-child policy limited most urban couples to one child and rural couples to two if their first was a girl. Some of banners read: “Two child policy legal irregardless of when.” AP

BEIJING — A Chinese man was detained after he altered an image of a newspaper front page to add a headline declaring the official adoption of a “two-wife” policy, a joke on the country’s new “two-child” policy, the state-owned Yangjiang Daily said Friday.

The newspaper from the southern province of Guangdong fell victim to the prank and reported the incident to local police on Tuesday. The Yangjiang Daily said the altered image spread quickly on social media, causing an “ill impact.”

Chinese authorities have been cracking down on rumors and false information circulating online, saying they disrupt the proper flow of information on the Internet.

READ: China’s new two-child policy law takes effect

The Yangjiang Daily said the man, identified only by his family name, Lin, altered the image of the newspaper as a joke with colleagues but that it was shared online.

Lin was detained on the charge of fabricating a rumor, the newspaper said. It did not say how long he would be held.

The original headline was about the opening of a city meeting.

READ: China ends one-child policy, says state media