China’s One Child Policy: A Detriment to the Nation

1623 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social consequences of China's one child policy

In 1979, China implemented a one child per family policy. This policy was designed to reduce crowding and to maintain a stable economy. Families who do not adhere to this policy are charged fines and are pressured to abort second or third pregnancies and to undergo sterilization surgery. They may also be subject to social ridicule and disproval. There are certain exemptions to this policy. For example, in certain areas of rural China, couples are allowed to have two children. If both individuals in a couple come from single child home, they too may be allowed to produce two children. While these exceptions may seem to increase the fairness of this policy, the policy itself is completely flawed and inefficient. This is a fundamentally wrong policy and its use should be discontinued; due to the fact that it creates a major distortion in the sex ratios, has extremely negative psychological consequences for the children of one child homes and because it causes a large amount of economic strain on both the government and the general population of China. One of the most obvious and problematic consequences of the one child policy in China is the distortion of the sex ratio. Currently in China there is a major gap between the number of males and the number of females. The number of males greatly out-numbers the number of females. This gender gap is referred to as the “missing women” (Bulte, Heerink, & Zhang, 2011). According to research, there are currently as many as 40 million “missing” women in China (Bulte, Heerink, & Zhang, 2011). The main reasons for this gap are the combination of a male preference with the one child per family policy. There are many reasons why male children are preferred over female children in China. In ru... ... middle of paper ... ...tatistics, 73, 21–39. • Female Infanticide. (2010). Retrieved March 14, 2011 from British Broadcasting Corporation website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml • Feng, W. (2005). Can China Afford to Keep its One Child Policy?: Asia Pacific Issues, 77, 12-24. • Hesketh, T., Zhu, W. & Lu, L. (2008). China’s Excess Males, Sex Selective Abortion, and One Child Policy: Analysis of Data from 2005 National Intercensus Survey. BMJ, 338, 1211-1220. • Hesketh, T. & Zhu, W. (1997). Health in China: The One Child Family Policy: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. BMJ, 314, 1685-1686. • Rosenberg, M. (2011). China’s One Child Policy. Retrieved March 16, 2011 from http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/onechild.htm • Yi, Z. (2010). China’s Rapidly Aging Population. Today’s Research on Aging, 20, 27- 32.

Show More
Related

  • China's One Child Policy Dbq Essay

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    Was China's one-Child policy a good idea? China's one child policy was introduced in 1980 with the fear of reaching the 1 billion population mark.China's one child policy was a great idea because it resolved China's population issue. The three main positive things that came from the one-child policy is population control, more respect for females and the environmental benefits.

    Read More

  • China's One-Child Policy DBQ

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    Document F examines the lives of 2 children effected by the OCP. They both felt it helped them in the long run, but all of the attention and pressure to do well was on them. This leads to the creation of the “Little Emperors.” This can lead to a poor ability of cooperation in the next generation. The amount of pressure on a single-child to do well can also lead to an increase of depression and suicide among the new generation, which is not the correct way to decrease population. Document B dives into the issue of fertility rates before and after the OCP takes effect. A year before the Policy takes effect China’s fertility rate is 2.7; in 2008 it is 1.7. This change is unnatural and extremely savage. Social issues are only the tip of the iceberg; the One Child Policy also caused a gender gap beyond

    Read More

  • China's One Child Policy

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the more extreme measures taken in an attempt to control population has been China's one-child policy. Population advocate Garet Hardin suggests the rest of the world adopt similar policies. This paper is to show a country's government acting on theories that Hardin is popular for and the ethical and environmental effects that it had on people and the land. Hardin fails to see the ethical problems laid out by governments that suppress peoples thoughts and beliefs.

    Read More

  • The People’s Republic of China and The One Child Policy

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council’s Resolution Concerning the Strengthening of Birth Control proclaimed the one child policy in 1980. This policy said “the state advocates the one couple has only one child except for special cases, with approval for second birth” (Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, 1980). The goals of the policy were to have zero growth in the country and maintain the population at 1.2 billion by 2000. China offered financial and marital incentives to couples with a child and suspended them if the couple had a second child. Despite being defined as a voluntary program, the policy was enforced through administrative controls (White 2006). Be...

    Read More

  • The One Child Policy in China

    2851 Words  | 6 Pages

    In 1979, China decided to establish a one child policy which states that couples are only allowed to have one child, unless they meet certain exceptions[1].In order to understand what social impacts the one child policy has created in China it important to evaluate the history of this law. China’s decision to implement a Child policy has caused possible corruption, an abuse of women’s rights, has led to high rates of female feticide, has created a gender ratio problem for China, and has led to specific problems associated with both the elderly and younger generation. Finally, an assessment of why China’s one child policy is important to the United States allows for a full evaluation of the policy.

    Read More

  • One Child Policy Essay

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    This one child policy was introduced in 1979 and constricted Chinese couples to have only one child. However, in rural areas, some of the families are allowed to have a second child if both of the parents are the only child or the first child is a girl or disabled. The policy has meant to reduce the childbirth rate but this policy has lead to forced abortions by the planning officials, giving away baby for adoption online and the imbalanced sex ratio of 116 boys to 100 girls.

    Read More

  • Population Control In The Lottery

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    China’s communist party created this policy in 1979 and has prevented over 400 million births with the use of forced abortions and sterilizations like Uzbekistan. In January of 2016, this policy has been changed into a two-child policy due to a realization that there can be an economic consequence to the failing birth-rate. Also, due to the fact that couples can only have one child, the future of China’s population can be a burden. Researchers stated, “The graying population will burden health care and social services, and the world’s second-largest economy will struggle to maintain its growth (Jiang, Steven)”. With the lack of production for more newborns, the population will gradually have a majority of elderly people within their society. The new population policy made add an increase in population, but it still puts a limit on the population. If couples had this policy lifted, it can make the overpopulation problem occur again. Therefore, this transition from one child to two children helps balance out under-population and overpopulation in

    Read More

  • One Child Policy Dbq

    586 Words  | 2 Pages

    Feng Wang and Cai Yong stated that the fertility rate was already declining and the policy wasn’t necessary for the Chinese people, especially because of the enormous costs. The fertility rate, which is the number of children the average woman has in her lifetime, in China started at 2.7 in 1979 and decreased to 1.7 in 2008. The article “China’s One Child Policy at 30” argued that the policy did not need to be introduced in China because the rates were already lower than Brazil at 4.2 and Thailand at 3.6.

    Read More

  • China's One Child Policy Essay

    2102 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the first half of 50’s government did not limit the population growth but did the exact opposite and actually encourage families to have more children. This was due to the Mao Zedong’s or Chairman Mao’s believe that more population would mean more economic development, more labor and more growth, however, late 1950’s changed that and that is when China began implementing first population control measures. As population reached 600 million Mao expressed his wish for population to remain in this level. Government soon realized that in order to keep population at this level, long term population control would have to be implemented. First they began by simply distributing various forms of contraceptives among general population. As famine of 1959-1961 struck the country it set the policy aside but as soon as country began to demonstrate signs of recovery the family planning campaign resumed where it left with distribution of contraceptives. By the late 1970s, China had experienced success in decreasing fertility rates by increasing the use of birth control under the slogan "Late, Long and Few". As a result China's population growth dropped by half between 1970 and 1976. Nonetheless, it soon leveled off, making government and officials seek more drastic measures and on September 25, 1980 an open letter by the Chinese Communist Party established One-Child Policy (OCP) also called Family Planning Policy (FPP). Nevertheless the OCP name is misleading since the policy allows for exceptions. For instance rural families with first child being disabled or being girl are allowed to have another child. Also, couples where both bride and groom are single children are allowed to have two ...

    Read More

  • The One Child Policy and Gender Inequality

    1947 Words  | 4 Pages

    However, the wish of having multiple children, especially boys, was challenged by the strict One Child policy in 1979. The One Child policy, also known as Family Planning policy, was implemented across the country as one of fundamental national policies under the administration of Population and Family Planning Commission. Based on the purpose of lowering fertility rates to ease social pressure and improve living standard, a married couple is only allowed to have one child with some exceptions made for some ethnic minorities and rural families. The majority of citizens are classified by ethnics and occupations to fit the specific regulations of compensations and punishments to prevent them from having a second child (Li, J., & Cooney, R, S. 1993).

    Read More

  • China: Violation of Human Rights

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women of China have their own opinions when it comes to their families, being under a controlled government and being told how many children they can have only makes it harder if them. Also China’s Health Ministry estimates that in the four decades since the imposition of the one-child policy more than 336 million abortions have taken place in the nation. Nora...

    Read More

  • China's One Child Policy

    2616 Words  | 6 Pages

    China originally created this policy to control the nation's population with hopes to stop wide-spread poverty. The people alone could not solve the problem, so the government decided to intervene, creating the One Child Policy. The law was established by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to limit China's population growth, and to conserve resources. The One Child Policy was designed to be temporary; however, it still continues to this day. The policy limits couples to have one child only. Consequences such as: fines, pressures to abort a pregnancy, and even forced sterilization accompanied second or subsequent pregnancies (Rosenberg). The policy was initially more like a voluntary agreement; where families who decided to have only one child would get full benefits for that child. Couples with two kids would get the same benefits as ones with one child if it was authorized by the government. However, couples who decided to have a third child would suffer penalties. The couples who had more than two children had to unde...

    Read More

  • One Child Policy Essay

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the rein of Mao Tse-tung China’s population was almost at one million. Mao allowed couples to have as many children as they please because to him, “of all the things in the world people are the most precious.”(Fitzpatrick 2). As the as the population continued to grow the government became concerned and decided that population control was necessary in order to remain able to support the citizens of China. Furthermore, the government feared there would not be enough food to upkeep residents. The next leader, Deng Xioping, created the “One Child Policy” therefore preventing families from having more than one child. On September 25th 1980 the policy was instituted. Subsequently this law has prohibited children and parents the experience of having a big family.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Statistics

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rosenberg, M. (2010, 11 17). China's one child policy. Retrieved 01 31, 2011, from About.com:

    Read More

  • Social Ecology

    1533 Words  | 4 Pages

    10. Yang, J., (2007). Local Variations of the One-Child Policy and Adolescent China. Journal of Population Studies.

    Read More

More about China’s One Child Policy: A Detriment to the Nation

Open Document