One Child Policy Essay

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The population was rapidly increased in 19th century since the Mao’s theory of the more people makes the country be stronger and create more economic profit. People predicted it would be double in the following 25 years. This severe situation alarmed the Mao. He finally realized that he had to control the increased population (Zhang and Goza 4). By 1979, the government launched the One Child Policy (Zhang and Goza 5). The initial goal of the One Child Policy was to stabilize the growth rate of the population and reduce the fertility rate. It awarded rewards to the family who obey the rules and punish those violate the policy (Li 563). The fertility rate dropped by 1.2 after the policy (Bulte, Heerink, and Zhang 26). Despite the tremendous contribution …show more content…

In the article “The ‘Missing Girls’ of China and The Unintended Consequence of The One Child Policy”, Avraham Ebenstein argues “As the population grew rapidly, Chinese policymakers felt compelled to limit fertility, and in the wake of the One Child Policy, the sex ratio of birth began to rise” (89). He suggests the sex ratio began to increase after the government enacted the One Child Policy, which implies the policy is the main reason for the increased sex ratio. Therefore, we can blame the One Child Policy for the high sex …show more content…

First, the sex ratio was not only high after the policy but also before the policy. In 1930 and 1940, the sex ratio was very high due to many abortions of female infants (Hesketh, Li and Zhu 1773). Second, the essential goal of the One Child policy was to reduce the fertility rate instead of increasing the sex ratio. In the “Effect of Son Preference and Population Policy on Sex Ratios at Birth in Two Provinces of China”, Xingyan Wen argues that the high sex ratio was the product of the conflict between how the couples wanted to build their families and purpose of the One Child Policy (520). Although the answer is possible to explain the relation between the sex ratio and the One Child Policy, it does not fully answer my

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