Background History
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.
Description of One-Child Policy as it was First Implemented in 1979
The one-child policy restricted most families from having more than one child, and couples were required to get permission from the head of their work unit before having a child. Having a second child without permission, could lead to difficulties in registering the second child to the household registration system, and therefore losing the benefits of public health services and education for the child.
Heavy financial penalties were imposed on couples who violated the policy, the fine was based on the percentage of the annual income and both parents were fined every year for between 5 and 14 years (Li 1995: 564). Besides financial penalties...
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Spengler, J. J. 1962. Studies on the Population of China, 1368-1953 by Ping-Ti Ho. Cambridge University Press. Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Oct., 1962), pp. 112-114
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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 ...
Feng Wang and Cai Yong stated that the fertility rate was already declining and the policy wasn’t necessary for the Chinese people, especially because the enormous costs. The fertility rate, which is the number of children the average woman has in her lifetime, in China started at 2.7 in 1979 and decreased to 1.7 in 2008. The article “China’s One Child Policy at 30” argued that the policy did not need to be introduced in China because the rates were already lower than Brazil at 4.2 and Thailand at
Li, K., & Mengyan, F. (2013). A historical survey on modernization of Chinese culture. Asian Social Science, 9(4), 129-132. doi:10.5539/ass.v9n4p129
It is clear that China’s one child policy has affected Chinese society in multiple ways. The policy has resulted in corruption in the Chinese government, an abuse of women’s rights, female feticide, and an imbalance in the gender ratio, and potential problems with China’s elderly and younger populations. The Chinese government decided to implement a one child policy in order to counter the effects of rapid population growth. The question to ask is if the benefits of population control really do outweigh the problems the policy has created in Chinese society. It will be interesting to see if the policy continues to affect Chinese culture in the future, and how the changes that have been recently made play out.
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Merli, M. G., & Smith, H. L. (2002). Has the Chinese Family Planning Policy been
By 1800, China’s Qing dynasty encountered several issues such as a growing population, peasant ...
... middle of paper ... ... As a result, overpopulation may not be that serious in some other countries, but it does be the most serious social problem in China.
Latzko, Laura. "The Effects of Population Growth in China." EHow. Demand Media, 29 May 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
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Rosenberg, Matt. "China One Child Policy - Overview of the One Child Policy in China."
Rajan points out that in the province of Shanghai, the highest proportion of the aged population can be found. Looking at the Chinese census of 1990, Rajan found that the proportion of children under the age of 14 is lower than that of children in India. In 2015, China abolished the one-child policy, but before that, the policy made various changes in China’s development. In terms of development, the one-child policy caused damage in the sense that gender inequality remained.
China’s child policy has changed a lot of people’s lives. It changed the number of children they could have. The policy has only changed once from being able to have one baby to being able to have two babies. China created that law because their population included more than 500 million people. This law has created much debate across the world.
Due to the overpopulation in China, the chinese government came up with the one child policy, to counter this problem. However, this “solution” has caused more problems, with 108 males per 100 females, like the aging population in China, which will be discussed below.
Rosenberg, M. (2010, 11 17). China's one child policy. Retrieved 01 31, 2011, from About.com: