Chinas Population Problem

China's Population Problem

The Chinese government has taken the enforcement of family planning and birthrate laws to an extreme by violating the civil rights of its citizens, which has had bad effects on the morale of its people (Whyte 161). China's population has grown to such an enormous size that it has become a problem to both the people and government. China, the most populous country in the world, has an estimated population of about one thousand-one hundred-thirty three point six million (Hsu 1). Ninety-four percent of the population thrives in the eastern half of China, which composes about forty-three percent of China's total area (Hsu 1). The eastern half of China contains its most populous cities like

Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. However these cities have a low fertility rate due to recent bandwagons of birth control. The average density in the eastern half of China averages around two-hundred and thirty-six people per square kilometer, whereas the density in the west half averages around ten point six people persquare kilometer (Hsu 1). Current enforcement of Chinese laws prevents migration between provinces without proper authorization, as the citizens in the west half of China have a desire to live in a more urban life where jobs can be found easier, and the citizens in the more populous eastern half have a stronger desire to live in the more rural western China (Hsu 4).

The Chinese have always had a large population (Hsu 1). Even in ancient times where the population would never fall below sixty million (Hsu 1). Later, in the eighteenth century the population rose exceedingly and China became the strongest and most economically wealthy (Hsu 1). By the time the Qing Dynasty ruled, the fertile people of China had reached a population of three-hundred million (Hsu 1). The birthrate in China did decline in the nineteen-fifties due to campaigning by the government on birth control (Hsu 1). However, after the population decreased the government turned their attention to other matters while the population slowly crept up again. Once again in the nineteen- seventies the population became an issue and it received the governments full attention. In order that the government might resolve this problem, the "Wan Xi

Shao" policy, or the "marry later, give longer spacing between children, and have fewer children" policy began to be...

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...oportionally to population size. The consideration of family planning policies and laws remains feasible to most governments, however inappropriate the people targeted might deem them. A governments position on a subject has not always proven to have justice in the favor of its people, but in the long run proves beneficial most of the time.

History has shown that previous attempts to control population have failed and recent laws enforced appear to be taken to extremes by the government. However primitive their ways of accomplishing this have shown to be, it must not be overlooked that it has proved effective in reducing China's immense population.

Works Cited

1. "Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report" (C. Q. W. R.), June 5, 1993. 2.

Ehrlich, Paul R. The population explosion, Simon and Schauster, New

York, 1990. 3. Hsu, Mei-Ling, "Population of China: Large is not beautiful" Focus Spring 1992: vol. 42, no.1. 4. Linden, Eugene. "Too Many People" Times fall 1992: vol. 140, issue 27, p. 64. 5. Whyte, Martin King, Urban Life in Contemporary

China, The University of

Chicago press, Chicago, 1984.