One Child Policy Dbq

If you were a government official, and your country’s population growth was on the verge of causing major complications, what would you do? Government officials in China created a policy (that was introduced in 1980) called the One Child Policy. This is a policy created to control population growth by only allowing people of Han Chinese descent to have one child. However, minority ethnic groups could have two or three children. The One Child Policy that was put into place was a good idea because it prevented a strain on dwindling resources, benefited the environment, and advanced education while challenging gender norms.
Before the One Child Policy, people lived in tight quarters with limited resources, but after it was put into effect, there was more for everyone. Because of the large population, resources, like water, have been put “under pressure,” according to Liu Shaojie, vice director of the Population Commission in Henan (Document C). Henan only has “a quarter of the water compared to the national average” (Document C). Alongside a population

As a country with more people, there are assumably more cars, meaning more gases will be emitted that harm the environment. However, if a rapidly growing population stopped growing as quickly, there would be less people to need cars, which reduces pollution. The vice director of Population Commission in Henan says that the population being controlled “have kept sulfur dioxide emissions down by 17.6%” and “[reduced] water pollution 30.8%” (Document C). With such a significant decrease, less people were being diagnosed with pollution related illnesses. Sulfur Dioxide, a gas that is emitted from cars, “is a major cause of asthma and bronchial infection” (Document C), and with less Sulfur Dioxide in the air, people can have a healthier life. Consequently, the One Child Policy was