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China 's One Child Policy

Decent Essays

In the early twentieth century under Mao Zedong’s leadership, the Chinese government encouraged population growth, condemning contraceptives and praising large families. This led to birthrates of over four children per couple. In just a few years, the population had doubled, severely straining Chinese agriculture. From 1959 to 1961, a horrific famine killed as many as thirty million people. Thus, by 1975, the Chinese government had reversed their policy on population growth (Clarke), adopting the slogan “Later, Longer, Fewer.” This campaign urged couples to have two to three children and to begin reproducing at a later age, as well as promoting improved sanitation and healthcare to as to increase life expectancy (“5 Things to Know About China’s 1-Child Policy”).
In 1979, the Chinese government introduced the One-Child Policy, which consisted of a set of regulations governing the approved size of families. The plan demanded that couples have only one child each in order to curb the surging population and to limit the demands for water and other resources (Wiki). The regulations evolved over time, becoming more relaxed for certain demographics or regions, and more strict and violent for others. Early on in the program, the laws targeted the Han ethnic majority and strictly allowed for no more than one child per couple throughout the country. In 1984, the government created Document 7, which gave each province the ability to adjust the one-child policy to local circumstances.

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