Say What???

This morning we held a review meeting with our global corporate team for a review session on our project status.
Our facility manager was presenting the status of the construction. During this time he was discussing the various governmental approvals that must be obtained at various points in time in order to proceed with construction.
For each of these, the typical bureaucracy is that the construction team meets with local Level 1 Office who reviews and gives approval. Then the data is passed to a Level 2 Office who reviews and may reject for some obscure reason. We then make corrections, return to Level 1 Office who has to approve again, pass to Level 2 Office who may approve, then pass to Level 3 Office who finds yet another "problem". We go fix that one and return to Level 1 Office and the cycle continues until all approvals are obtained and the final approval is granted.
In China, this really isn't surprising and you have no other choice but to just get through it. Each level has to approve independently and they certainly don't talk to each other and the regulations are highly subjective in interpretation and much of the process seems to be nothing more than job security for the government agencies - so its pretty much a guessing game as to how difficult an approval will be or even to predict when approvals will eventually be granted.
Anyway, our facility guy was reviewing all of this and then showed the list of approvals we are required to obtain from the local government agencies ...

• Fire Prevention System
• Safety System
• Plumbing System
• General Construction Quality
• Electrical Systems
• Environmental Systems
• Birth Control Systems
• HVAC System

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Back up. What did you just say???
Birth Control Systems????"

The whole meeting comes to a stop.

First, remember that there is a "One Child Policy" in China. Each family is allowed one child and there is some sort of penalty for those who violate.
Second, Construction crews are generally migrant workers from very rural areas who travel very far distances to obtain construction jobs and they all live on site until the job is complete and then they migrate to another location (regardless of distance) and start anew.
As a result, it is quite possible that a worker may have a family and a child in some far away town. But, while on the job, a worker may get "lonely" and the next thing you know, he has fathered another child. And that is illegal. And guess what?
The Construction Company is financially libel for the, um, "output" of their workers while living in their construction team dormitories. "So, Yes, Mr. Corporate Manager - we have to obtain a Birth Control Approval from the local government agency showing that the construction company is managing and complying with The Policy."

Never before have I heard such silence in a meeting.

As I have said many times before .... Only in China!