Birth or population planning in China did not begin with the one-child only policy, OCP, of 1979 that was formally instituted in 1980; instead, the OCP was the culmination of a series of policies that began in the 1950’s which aimed at lowering the rate of population growth. The policies had this goal in common but varied in the methods by which they proposed to meet this goal and the degree of severity with which they were enforced. In the 1950’s, policies focused on achieving economic development by improving maternal and child health. From 1962-1966 educational campaigns urged families to plan for later births, longer spacing between them, smaller families and increased women’s access to contraceptives and abortions. The third phase, from 1971-1979, emphasized education. Difficulties with implementing and enforcing the birth and planning policies are indicative of the ways in which the system of centralized planning has tended to break down at the local level and ways in which policies, and outcomes, are quite different in urban and rural locations in China. The local governments tried using incentives for compliance, such as preference in educational opportunities, health care, housing and job assignments, and discouragements for lack of compliance, such as fines and loss of access to education and other privileges. “Prior to 1984 the official goal was to keep the Chinese population under 1.2 billion and local cadres were supposed to enforce the policy in order to meet this goal. The primary methods for doing so were the promotion of contraception (primarily Intra Uterine Devices or IUDs) and enforced sterilizations”. It is hard to imagine that after working so hard to control population growth, China now has to relax the po... ... middle of paper ... ... "China's Orphaned Parents." AsiaOne. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH)/ The New Paper, 03 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Lam Law, Nicola Yuen. "Culture Changing Through One Child Policy – Cons." Sites At Penn State. WorldPress.Org, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. LeggeAce Learning Company, Inc, Jerome S., Jr., and Zhirong Zhao. "Morality Policy and Unintended Consequences of China's One-child Policy." - Learning Ace. Chinese Public Administration Review, Dec. 2004. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Phillips, Tom. "New Zealand Herald." The New Zealand Herald. N.p., 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. Sandler, Lauren. "Chinese Parents Can Now Have More than One Child. Why Many Say They Won’t." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 12 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Xuefeng, Chen. "Harvard Asia Pacific Review." Harvard Asia Pacific Review 7.1 (Summer 2003): 74-76. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
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.
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
The adoption process can take more than one year and cost a family up to $18,000. Couples wait anxiously for the government’s approval, then the government assigns them a baby. Couples are given nothing more than a picture of the baby. They don’t have the child’s medical information, who the parents are, etc. Finally, three days after the arrival in Beijing, the couples get to meet their baby for the first time. Under Chairman Mao in the ‘50s and ‘60s, China’s population exploded. By 1980, Mao’s successors limited families to having only one child. Sometimes, families were allowed to have two. This was the largest human population control effort in human history. China’s population is coming under control, but there are consequences no one intended. Couples feel that they must have a boy because boys often carry on the family name, provide work and they stay with their parents at old age. Possibly, over 100,000 baby girls are abandoned every year. Many of them will end up in an orphanage. Today, 1in 4 children adopted overseas come from China. The babies adopted by Americans are only a fraction of the millions of girls believed to be missing from China’s population. While the number of girls are being giving away, the number of boys are becoming way out of proportion. Today, boys greatly out number girls and its only getting worse. This relates to cultural relativism,
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.
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...
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.
Tan, G. (2012). THE ONE-CHILD POLICY AND PRIVATIZATION OF EDUCATION IN CHINA. International Education, 42(1), 43-53,107. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1285120304?accountid=32521
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.
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 ...
Merli, M. G., & Smith, H. L. (2002). Has the Chinese Family Planning Policy been
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...
Over population has been a global issue for decades. Medical advances have made it possible for people to live longer and have multiple births, which are just some of the factors contributing to this social problem. Many countries have attempted to battle this issue, but none as intensely as China. China allows the government to have full control over family planning to help reduce the population. In 1979 China created a policy called the "One Child Law" which limits couples to only one child. Although the Chinese government hopes to curb the population boom and benefit society, the One Child Policy has morally questionable results, negative impacts on Chinese society, which should be changed.
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.
Rosenberg, M. (2010, 11 17). China's one child policy. Retrieved 01 31, 2011, from About.com:
10. Yang, J., (2007). Local Variations of the One-Child Policy and Adolescent China. Journal of Population Studies.