One Child Policy Dbq

One could say that the one-child policy was unacceptable policy for China. In 1949 the Chinese communist leader, said, “people are the most precious.” One of Mao’s early goals was to catch up economically with richer countries like the United states. In the late 1960s he introduced the slogan “Late, Long and Few.” The idea was for couples to marry late, wait a long time before having children, and then, when they did have kids, have only a few (pg. 499). So one might ask, was the one-child policy a good idea for China? The one-child policy was a bad idea because, it created social problems, affected women’s health , and it also affected the economy. First and foremost, the one-child policy created many social problems. For instance, male and female imbalance became one of the biggest issues in China because of the one-child policy. Shown in document E, “Particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide…” “The resulting gender imbalance widened after 1986, when ultrasound tests and abortions became easier to come by.” With sex discrimination, as there were more boys in china, because female were being infanticide before even turning one. And also

For example, in many factories, employers could not found workers. As illustrated in document E, “In 2007 there were six adults of working age for every retiree, but by 2040 that ratio is expected to drop to 2 to 1.” As the population decreases overtime, it would become harder to have found work in a lot of places especially factories and harder for the elderly to retire. In addition, according to the chart in Doc. A, the population will be at 900 million in 2070. Which means less workers, less production and more male and female imbalance. Overall, the one-child policy has not been most effective in China, today, nor in the near future, according to all the documents