Chinas One-Child Policy Essay

Over population is an extremely serious problem facing the world today. According to an article from Newsweek in Oct. 2009 called “Where do babies come from?”, today’s world population has reached over 6.6 billion people. Also the article mentioned that in 2009 57.4% of all new born babies who were born this year came from Asia alone. This is an issue because over population can lead to hasty consumption of resources. China who has one of the largest population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, has taken a stance against over population.

China's one child policy was incredibly negative towards its people. In China, boys are culturally favored over girls, because of this the practice of infanticide has become more common due to the policy, this is stated in Imbalance and Discrimination where it is stated, "With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide...was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy went into effect" (Document E). This quote demonstrates the negative effects to come out of the one child policy, because parents can only have one child, parents in China will want a boy over a girl as it is more culturally

China’s One Child Policy was founded in 1949, this policy was founded upon the idea that China’s population was growing at an exponential rate (Doc B). China had one of the largest growing populations at over 150 million every year and with a population density of over 104 people/sq. km in rural areas and in cities up to 22,350/sq. km (Pop. Den.). China’s One Child Policy focuses on lowering the fertility rate of women and in turn lowers the population and population density, this is done by limiting most of the Chinese society to only having one child. China’s One Child Policy was a good idea because it focused on academic achievement, lessened the load on the environment and lowers fertility rates in women which then in turn lowers the already crowded Chinese population.

Most females are not respected and are heavily pressured by their parents. Many Chinese women are expected to be in arranged marriages and are not respected in their family or the work-place. Woman that aren’t even born yet suffer from infanticide. If the parents came to find that they were having a girl from ultrasound- they would abort that child and try for a boy causing pre-birth ultrasounds to be banned. “Negative social consequences, particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy took effect.” (Document E) “I hate to say it but the one-child policy should party be blamed for some social issues in youth today.” “She wished she has a brother or sister to share all the attention.” (Document F) This evidence supports the claim that the one-child policy was a bad policy because women have always been culturally no preferable, causing unborn females to be aborted.

While china One child Policy was aimed for improvement, the policy has caused some serious social consequences. The New England Journal of Medicine 's article "The Effect of China 's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years" discuss the social consequences of Chinas One child policy. The One child policy in china begin when Chinese governments viewed population containment as a benefit for living and economic improvement. They created a one child policy that limits the size of families, the policy also includes regulations regarding marriage, spacing and childbearing. The strict policy is controlled with rewards and penalties, it applies to minorities of china which are Urban residents and government employees with the exception of one-child families, first children with disabilities and workers in high-risk work settings. The policy three social consequences concerning population growth, the ratio between men and women, and the ratio between adult children and dependent elderly parents. Each social consequences causes disastrous results. The policy is a sex imbalance that creates social consequences. The sex imbalance is what causes the different social consequence with undesirable effects. The first social consequence is decrease in population growth. Population growth in china has declined in the past 25 years. The policy has prevented many births as stated in the article " Chinese authorities claim that the policy has prevented 250 to 300 million births. The total

As Mingliang states, “the Chinese preference for at least one son is well documented” (3). Having two sons in a family is very unusual in China. Due to the preferences of having sons, the abortion rates have increased. Abortion is well known in China, as is the “missing girls” phenomenon. Shaou, Dodge, and Suter argue that, “of the seven million abortions annually in China, the International Planned Parenthood Federation indicates that more than 70 percent are female unborn children”(4). This is a big percentage, and the number of girls in this country is decreasing every year. People are using different ways to limit the number of girls. Moreover, if a woman does not want to abort, she is forced to do so. Bluett argues that, “abortions are performed throughout the entire nine-month period, even up to the point of childbirth” (3), simply saying the increase in sex ration is caused mainly by son preference, which is as a tradition in China. It is significant to mention that because of the gender imbalance, younger generations are facing other problems. According to Bluett, “many males are left without a wife, which leads to an increase in human trafficking” (5). The one child policy is causing a lot of troubles and China has to make sure to reduce the negative effects of this policy.

The punishments for China’s one child policy are extremely harsh and inhumane. For instance relatives were put in jail because they were related to a family who broke the law by having two boys (Hanworth n.p). Other cases include: a baby being run over by a car by Chinese officials, a mother being forced to abort seven months in her pregnancy, and a doctor killed a baby right after he/she was born (Maessan n.p.) It’s hard to believe people would find it ok to murder children for population problems.

The one-child policy was implemented in 1979 by the Chinese government (The Economist 3). Its original goal was to restrain the population growth from its expected goal of 1.4 billion to a maximum of 1.2 billion by the end of the century (Kane and Choi 992). The policy was created with little regard to the potential demographic or societal changes, but rather was a political and economic measure to control the abnormally high population growth (Feng et al. 84). China’s population was rapidly growing, but there was a severe shortage of natural

Although the One-Child Policy in China had downfalls, the benefits overcome. In fact, many believe China’s One-Child Policy was not a good idea and had many flaws. I strongly believe China’s One-Child Policy was a sufficient theory in assisting environmental crises, strengthening feminine power, and revealing benefits of having singleton

Due to the one-child policy there are many serious human rights infractions. Since the policy has been in effect, there have been more than 400 million prevented births ("China:

First, China’s One-Child Policy was upsetting to many females. In document D it

“China Will Have another Major Demographic Problem,” is an article on About.com written by Matt Rosernberg. It explains the great imbalance between man and women due to China’s One Child Policy, and how this situation will disturb the stability and development of China because the high numbers of bachelors tend to damage community by doing crimes and violence. The policy says that a couple could only have a child. This was created as a temporary solution since China was overpopulated by 972 million people in 1979 (Rosenberg). Through years this policy is proven to reduce the population growth. However, there have been some unintended side effects. Not only did this policy create the gender imbalance, but also many other issues, such as: the high population of unmarried men, human trafficking, and the high rate of suicide.

brothers or sisters to help him/her support the family. Following the One-Child Policy would lead to some consequences that may affect some more than others.

China is a heavily populated place compared to the U.S. and other countries. It has been for many years and the population will not lower anytime soon. As a result of the rapid population growth during the 50s and 60s, China began their One-Child Policy in 1979 which led to forced abortions and the current low population growth.

If you do not have a son the first time around it is acceptable for the couple to decide to abort their baby if they knew the sex beforehand, or to put it up for adoption and try again until you get a male. And if the couple is not able to conceive a male, as seen in the video, it appears normal for the husband to threaten to leave the wife unless she gives him a son or to actually go forth and leave her so he can try his hand at having a son with another women (although, ironically enough, it is the male’s sperm that decides the sex of the baby). As mentioned before, having more than one child or have only a daughter is so absurd and such a violation of the norms in China, it seems to be an act of deviance. And although a couple can technically have more than one child legally in China, it is so frowned upon that couples who choose to do so are taxed for their decision. And even then, although the movie did not mention this, I assume that if a couple does choose to have more than one child and ends up having a girl, even if they already have a male child, they are probably encouraged to give their daughter up for adoption and try for two sons.