But experts said the unfavorable economic conditions had trapped northeastern China in a downward spiral in which people did not want to have babies and also were moving out of in search of better opportunities and social benefits. “Education, pensions, health care — the regional difference is enormous,” said Wang Feng, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. As the northeast continues to empty out, those disparities may become even more pronounced, he added. 

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