China's One Child Policy Analysis

Imagine a time where the world would be prohibited of birthing more than one child per couple. It is no secret that this has been practiced where the one child policy was intact in the country China. As human beings, we are often accustomed to reproduce at least once in our lifetime, some more than others. As a result of the one child policy, China has had its positives and negatives population wise. It can be predicted that if the one child policy were to be implemented in other countries, it would have the same effect as it did in China. The one child policy was first introduced around the year of nineteen-seventy-nine by the Chinese government. It was a method used to curb the population that was spiraling out of control of the Chinese government.

In the article titled “What does the end of the one-child policy mean for china?”, Xin En Lee’s point of view of the one child policy is that it had a negative effect on China’s whole demographic. Xin En Lee writes in the section labeled demographics askew, “The most significant long-term effect of the one child policy was its sending China’s demographic structure off-kilter.” The writer focuses on its fallen demographics as a result of the one child policy while simultaneously being conscious of the end of the one child policy potentially becoming a problem for the balance of China’s overall economy. The writer’s understanding stretches to the point where an actual experience is used in the article, not personal but just as credible. Xin En Lee reverts back to the year of 2015 where the two child policy was announced in late October, a woman by the name of Mary Yang shares her experience and emotion the day of the announcement. She discusses her as well as her husband being very excited for it and planning to birth a second baby, however as they allow the thought to sink in, they begin to have the doubt that they could care for another child given the situation that they are in with high expenses of their ten year old son. Back to Xin En Lee’s perspective, he strengthens his argument of the one child policy having a negative effect on China in many ways. The first negative effect he discusses is the effect on the aging of China’s population during and after the one child policy. “Driven by the one child policy, the share of China’s population under the age twenty fell from fifty-one percent in 1970 to twenty-seven percent by 2010, while the share of people older than sixty years old rose from seven percent to fourteen percent.” The one child policy ultimately had a huge effect on the aging of China’s demographic. China quickly became a country which their population transformed to people of