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- One-Child Policy Introduction
- Debate #1: Sustainability and Resource Availability
- Debate #2: Policy's Impact
- Looking Forward
As an emerging global superpower, with a population of over 1.3 billion, China will have a significant impact on the global future. The postulated population rise poses a strain on the world’s limited resources. The
one-child policy was introduced in 1979 to address the rising problem of limited resources throughout the country. Expected rises in population pose a constraint to the world’s limited resources. The policy was enacted at the beginning of China’s economic reforms, when a quarter of the world’s population resided in
China. The Government in China saw population restraint as a vital contributor to improve its social, economic, and environmental dilemmas. The saying, "Ni chele fan ne meijou"(Translation: Have you eaten?)reminds the Chinese people of the death of 30 million citizens during the Great Famine of 1959-1961, leaving an unforgettable imprint throughout the country and highlighted the prominent starvation concern. The One-Child Policy is the source of a heated debate worldwide.
In the 1950s, Chairman Mao Zedong urged Chinese couples to increase their family size. Launching China’s Great Leap Forward campaign, Mao aimed to“rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern communist society through the process of industrialization” by exploiting a large population work-force. As a result of the promotion of large family sizes, China’s population increased by 122 million with a growth rate above 2.5% per annum in the early 1950s (Hasan, 2010). It was not until the late 1970s, following the economic stagnation of the Cultural Revolution, that Mao’s Great Leap Forward was re-defined as The Great Leap Backwards, as the famine resulted in tens of millions of deaths countrywide (Sunyer, 2011). Yu Dehong, the secretary of a party official in Xinyang in 1959 and 1960, stated, “I went to one village and saw 100 corpses, then another village and another 100 corpses. No one paid attention to them. People said that dogs were eating the bodies. Not true, I said. The dogs had long ago been eaten by the people”(GlobalFusion, 2009). The
government began introducing population policies with the goal of controlling population growth and improving living standards. Birth control techniques were also becoming widely publicized and the slogan ‘later, longer, and fewer’ became a national value signifying late marriage and pregnancies, longer intervals between each child, and fewer children in general (Hasan, 2010).
In 1979 the one-child policy was introduced to China (Hesketh, 2005) by leader, Deng Xiaoping, to limit the population growth. This policy coerces couples to have only one child and assigns fines to those who do not
comply with this rule. Although the policy was chosen as a temporary measure, it is still enforced today. Zhang Weiqing, the minister of the State Commission of Population and Family Planning, has stated that the one child policy will continue in the foreseeable future as it is harmonious with China’s plan for population growth.
government began introducing population policies with the goal of controlling population growth and improving living standards. Birth control techniques were also becoming widely publicized and the slogan ‘later, longer, and fewer’ became a national value signifying late marriage and pregnancies, longer intervals between each child, and fewer children in general (Hasan, 2010).
In 1979 the one-child policy was introduced to China (Hesketh, 2005) by leader, Deng Xiaoping, to limit the population growth. This policy coerces couples to have only one child and assigns fines to those who do not
comply with this rule. Although the policy was chosen as a temporary measure, it is still enforced today. Zhang Weiqing, the minister of the State Commission of Population and Family Planning, has stated that the one child policy will continue in the foreseeable future as it is harmonious with China’s plan for population growth.
References
Hasan, M. (2010). The long-run relationship between population and per capita income growth in china. Journal of Policy Modeling, 32(3), 355-372.
Hesketh, T. , Lu, L. , & Xing, Z. (2005). The effect of china's one-child family policy after 25 years. New England Journal of Medicine, 353(11), 1171-1176.
Hesketh, T. , Lu, L. , & Xing, Z. (2005). The effect of china's one-child family policy after 25 years. New England Journal of Medicine, 353(11), 1171-1176.