China's One Child Policy Dbq Essay

Can you imagine if a one-child policy was enforced in the U.S.? It would not go over well. That is exactly what happened in China in 1980 and lasting thirty-five years until 2015. In 1980, under communist rule, China’s leader devised the one-child policy. Communism is a political theory that everything is publically owned. Communism has a reputation of not working. The one-child policy stated that parents of Han ethnicity were allowed to have only one child. It was established because of a famine China had suffered due to the large population. Famine is the widespread scarcity of food. China’s one-child policy was a bad idea for three reasons, it was not needed, it created a gender imbalance, and it created an age imbalance.

Why enforce something if it isn’t necessary? According to Document B, China’s population is projected to decrease after the year 2040. This means that there was no need for the policy because the population was already set to decrease. Similar to Brazil, South Korea, and Thailand, China's fertility rate was also decreasing. The Fertility rate is the average number of children a woman will have in her childbearing years. China’s fertility rate fell from 2.7 in 1979 to 1.2 in 2008 (Doc. B). As countries develop the average fertility rate decreases. If the one-child policy was not enforced, China would have an already decreased population.

Unlike most of the world, China has a large male population.

By 2030, 30 million men will not be able to find a wife in China ( Doc. E). This imbalance can be blamed on the one-child policy. During the period of the one-child policy, pregnant women received ultrasounds to discover the gender of the baby (Doc. E). If the baby was a girl, the mother would often abort or orphan the child. You can for sure say that the one-child policy caused a gender

imbalance.

The effects of China’s one-child policy was not just felt by the whole population, but It hurt many families and parents individually. As said before, the one-child policy caused many mothers to abort or orphan their child. Doing those things caused grief in the families. It didn’t hurt just the mothers, but the only children born into this policy. An only-child and Beijing resident Xiao Xuan said, “I Used to cut myself on my wrist after being yelled at by my mom and dad because I didn’t know who I should talk to or turn to.” (Doc. F) Pressure from parents and society has hurt many of the children born into the one-child policy. Children’s social lives affected and the need to succeed in the education system enlarged.(Doc. F) China’s one-child didn’t only affect families mentally, but in some cases physically.

In 1980, China started the one-child policy restricting couples to have one child. It was not a good idea because it was not needed, it created a gender imbalance, and an age imbalance. It’s important that we pay attention to the effects of the policy so it is not repeated again. It takes away the rights of the people and does not work. Hopefully, no country tries to repeat the problematic one-child policy of China.