Chinese Octo-Mom Causes Stir In One-Child Limit Country

"People are very interested in the policy these days and the need for changes to it," demography expert at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Liang Zhongtang, said.

"A lot of people think it should have been dropped a long time ago, or relaxed at least."

According to Chinese news reports, the babies were born last year in September and October and 11 nannies were hired to help take care of them.

The Chinese mother, whose identity has not been revealed, has been dubbed by media as "Babaotai Muqin" which translates to "Octo-Mom."

"Heavens. To have one family with eight kids...in an era of family planning where most people have just one, the contrast is just too much," Chinese Central Television news anchor Bai Yansong said. "It doesn't sound like news. It sounds more like a fairy tale."

The uproar in China is that affluent couples are often able to avoid the one-child rule because they're financially secure enough to pay the fines imposed by the Government, or obtain foreign citizenship, which exempts them from the rule.