China, being a country that has all eyes on them have become one of the most prominent countries in the world recently. Development within the country has by far surpass the expectations of the people all around the world. Despite all that, China face some of the world’s biggest problems for instance overpopulation. The meaning of overpopulation is the excessive population of an area to the point of overcrowding, depletion of natural resources, or environmental deterioration. And with that, the one-child policy was introduced to control the population of People's Republic of China (PRC) or more commonly known as China. However, this policy may vary slightly in different areas.
Formed in 1949, The People’s Republic of China had a population that was 550 million. In the early 1950s the philosophy of the Chinese government was that ‘a large population gives a strong nation’. The government wanted many children to be born and that particular government was under the leadership of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong was a Han Chinese revolutionary, a political theorist and a well-known communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1949 till the very end of his life in 1976, before the introduction of the one-child policy. This man was the founder of Maoism and under his leadership, many citizens of China had lost their lives due to famines, a result of a Five-Year Plan known as the Great Leap Forward. By the year 1970, there were 250 million additional people living in the country. Mao Zedong let people have as many babies as they want because he said, “Of all things in the world, people are the most precious”. With this quote, he managed to encourage the people of China to have big families thus increasing the population of...
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...e. Hence, the government present should consider the welfare of the people and the life on innocent lives at most.
In a recent article, 21 bodies of babies were found thrown into a river. It was believed that the bodies were dumped by the hospitals (Associated Press, 2010). Labeled as medical wastes, it is indeed a fact that this policy has caused numerous unnecessary and innocent deaths. Little ones are a precious and irreplaceable gifts from God and it is not human beings right to end the lives of these priceless gifts. In conclusion, the one child policy is a very good method in controlling overpopulation. Although it may seem like a good plan but many ethical and human rights and beliefs are violated in the process. Couples should have the liberty to have as many children as they want. Hence, a better management by the government on this issue must be made.
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 ...
Imagine having to be told by the government that you were only allowed to have one child because of your ethnicity and then being forced to pay for an additional child if it happened. China fell under Communist control in 1949 with Mao Zedong leading the country. China had just gotten out of a bad war so Chairman Mao believed that the Chinese people should have as many babies as they could; he called this plan the Great Leap Forward. Soon, China was captured in a famine that killed nearly 30 million people, so Mao told the Chinese people to have smaller families. Mao Zedong created the One-Child Policy (OCP) to help prevent large families. It seemed a great idea at the time, but would soon lead to severe social issues, gender issues, and ironically, population issues.
China’s population growth began to increase during the Ming Dynasty, and increased dramatically throughout Qing. The population grew around 65million in the late 14th century to more than 400 million in 1949 (Spengler 1962: 112). Since the People Republic of China was founded, Mao had seen the population growth as favorable to industrialization, and he believed that population growth empowered the country (Potts 2006). In the 1950s, the government began to realize that the food supply would soon become insufficient for the rapidly growing population, and stopped encouraging people to have more children through propaganda posters. In the beginning of the 1970s, the government launched the “Later, Longer, Fewer” campaign. It encourage couples to marry at a later age, have 4-8 years break from the first child’s birth before having the second child, and couples were encouraged to have only 2 children (Greenhalgh 2008: 49). In 1979, the one-child policy was implemented to further control the population growth.
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.
In the 1950s the People’s Republic of China first implemented the beginnings of the one child policy. It made significant changes to the population and the nation’s growth rate decreased. Professor Yinchu Ma (1957) initiated the policy with his book New Population Theory. His book responded to the huge increase in population growth occurring in China (Singer 1998). Under the Mao republic, leaders saw the population development as a danger to the nation’s economy (White 1994). The political party promoted childbirth in the 1950s and 1960s according to the slogan “one is a good few, two is just enough, and three is over” (White 1994). However these efforts were not successful and there were 250 million additional people in the 1970s. More steps were taken to encourage population control. These steps included focusing on contraceptive and abortion services in the countryside and encouraging later marriages. In 1982 the Chinese population was over one billion and the growth rate made China’s modernization goals more difficult.
After the People’s Republic of China was established several factors such as improved sanitation and medicine led to a rapid population increase. Initially, the population growth was considered to be an economic boom [2] because before it occurred the county had faced a century of wars and epidemics. However, by 1962, China started to promote the use of birth control. Later, in 1979 China was faced with a population that was growing out of control[3], and the government decided that in order to combat the extreme population that they needed to take action. Thus, the Chinese government decided to implement a one child policy.
After a civil war in 1949, communist leader Mao Zedong, encouraged all of his Chinese citizens to have more babies in order to increase the amount of people available to work. Following this increase of population, 30 million people died as a result of famine because of a food shortage. The Chinese government soon realized a need for a decrease in population, encouraging citizens to have less children. Though they saw a decrease in childbirth, it was not enough for stability. This caused China's One Child Policy, which limited its Han Chinese citizens to having only one child by law. The One Child Policy was a good idea because of its environmental, economical, and social benefits to China.
China is the world’s most populated country with an astounding 1.35 billion people. That number would be significantly higher if it wasn’t for the family planning policy put into effect September 25th, 1980 under Chairman Mao. This was a population control effort and was considered extremely successful to the Chinese government. However success is defined differently in many countries. In America for instance it usually ends with a positive outcome. The cons of this attempt of controlling the population heavily outweigh the pros. The problem of over-population manifested into economic tragedy. Crime rate, gender gap, forced abortions, and mass suicide are primary problems that stem from the population control efforts of the one child policy.
China’s population has shifted drastically over the past century resulting in ongoing issues that greatly impact the people of China beyond visually troubling demographic. China was once a poor and struggling country plagued with years of war and disease. The leader during this era, Mao Zedong had thought that influencing his people to grow their families it would lead economic prosperity. Sadly, the situation led a famine killing 30 million people. As a result of the disaster, Mao Zedong shifted his mindset towards an idea based around the slogan “Late, long, few”. Although fertility rates had dropped by half between 1970 and 1979, the Chinese government feared that the population was still growing too fast which then resulted in the one child
What’s the point of China’s one-child policy anyway? After the 20 year civil war ended in 1949, the great power of Mao Zedong and his Communist Party became the leaders of China. His intention was to take control of the poor, weakened country and have it prosper. One of his first steps in doing this was raising the population, and encouraged couples of China to have many, many children. The objective was to make fine future workers and raise the economy, however, the result was the overpopulation of China. As shown by the Population Division of the Department of Economics and Social Affairs (PDDESA), in the span of 30 years, there was more than 900 million in population (Doc A). Because of the great number of people, other problems occurred such as severe pollution and the overall quality of life. These conditions were pressured so much that China’s leader expeditiously acted. Under the control of new Communist leaders, they enforced a program called the one-child policy in 1980. This policy, the first of its kind, limited the Han Chinese (90% of the population) to only birth one child couple. Such drastic measures were taken to solve China’s
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
With overpopulation you get environment problems like water pollution and sulfur dioxide emissions. According to Liu in document C “the population controls have kept sulfur dioxide emissions down by 17.6% and [reduced] water pollution by 30.8%. Without [the one-child policy], he says, the average person in Henan would a less land and a quarter less forest.” With the population control there is less water contamination which means less people will become sick from polluted water. Also in document C it states “Over 30 years of effort, we have put in place a systematic procedure for controlling the population. That has eased the impact on the environment.” This quote shows when the one-child policy was put in place the water pollution and sulfur dioxide went down which helped the environment
In Spite of the great achievements that China has achieved in the recent years, our country is still a developing country, which is facing many serious social problems. The most serious of all is overpopulation, for it has a passive influence on the national economy, education and environment.
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.