The One-Child Policy in China

1019 Words3 Pages

The One-Child policy, one of China’s many controversial acts is said to have prevented 400 million births and substantially slow the country’s rapid population growth. The population has grown from just under 600 million in 1950 to over 1.2 billion in 2000. The policy created to decrease the over all population of the country preventing famine and other obstacles has had several unforeseen consequences. For one the policy has produced an aging country with young people a rarity. The one child policy has limited the number of young people coming into the work force, and with modern medicine the life expectancy was 73.49 as of 2011. This caused the amount of elderly to increase and the young population to be limited. Another rising problem is the population gap between male and female children. Traditionally male children are favored over females. Parents will go to far lengths to get a male child, even if it means aborting or abandoning their first if it were to be a girl .Several Chinese suffer from the extreme disciplinary act the government takes on offenders. These include extreme taxation, forced abortion, and sterilization with out consent of the woman in question. The origins of the one child policy are complex and stretch over more than one presidential rein. The one child policy is usually thought to be an infringement of citizen’s rights, but couldn’t it be also interpreted as the Chinese government simply fulfilling its responsibility to keep the country prosperous? The main purpose of the one-child policy was to control the rapid population growth in China. The majority of china’s people are agricultural farmers. It was traditional to have many children to help out in the families work. The children would later on i... ... middle of paper ... ...fei who is now on the verge of death due to the immense amount of abortion inducing drugs she was given. Many people disagree with the one-child policy because it infringes on the rights of couples and their choices to have children. Many western cultures such as the United States have activist groups, and charities that protest the law. Several American couples adopt Chinese orphans to give them a “better life”. In defense of the policy it has fulfilled its purpose and slowed the population growth of China. It is the responsibility of China’s government to ensure the future wellbeing of the country and prevent tragedies such as famine that would have been enviable with over population. Is it really the Chinese government’s responsibility to control the population of the country, or is it unjust to take away rights of citizens even for the better of the country?

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