Why was Chinas one child policy introduced?

During the 1940s the Chinese government encouraged people to have large families to gain military strength and for the people to help with agricultural production. This lead to the over population of china and it was estimated that 55 millions people where being born every 3 years. Therefore this lead to Chinas one child policy being introduced by Deng Xiaopin in 1979.This was because the population growth in that country was increasing rapidly over the years , especially by the 1920s, the population had reached 1 million and it was estimated that in 2025 the population would continue growing causing massive crises problems such as: lack of food supplies; famine , increased rates of poverty and destruction of the beautiful environment surrounding them. The question was who wants to live in a country dripping full of people? The one child policy was based around this question as it was the only way to reduce the amount of civilians in the country. Today ,thousands of citizens living in urban areas of China are facing this horrific problem.

What does it involve?

The Chinese policy involves limiting couples to only one child. But they have to be above 25 years old and must apply for a certificate before they are allowed to have a child . The plan was to maintain this policy in the laws for 100 years this would result in the population halving which would therefore mean a fast decrease in the population. The way they went about it was putting up posters in the cities and issuing special TV advertising informing them about the various implications they would be causing the country as well as themselves . Also the so called rewards you would get if you only decided to have one child .Some of the actions for planning to have more children would be sterilisation, forced abortions , fines and even criticism by the government which would also lead to no free education and you getting fired from your job. Another thing that was introduced was the granny police their role was to snoop around their neighbours houses and find out as much information on weather they were breaking the policy or not. Some rewards of following the forced law would be that you would get a free higher standard of education for your child ; The parents would be offered a promotion and you will be provided support for any other birth control measures.

Extra Research on the one child policy

Family planning officials These people have the power to force abortions and sterilisations and even give out fines heavily imposed by the government also called social service expenditures as an act of punishment for offending the law. Villagers who couldn't pay fines complained that the official s confiscated there pgs and cattle and ransack their homes even seizing there children. 4-2-1 problem? One possibility of relaxing the whole one child policy situation is by allowing families to have at least 2 kids because this would help the problem of care for the elderly .the 4-2-1 phenomenon is families with 4 grandparents 2 parents and one child taking care of the whole family this is why it would be better for families to have 2 kids as that would result in less pressure to be held for the one child. Little emperor syndrome (xiao huangdi ) This is a result of the one child policy as the parents only have one child so they lavish attention, time and energy on their one child and therefore it becomes ridiculously spoiled and becomes more selfish let alone having no social skills. This leads to parents catering for their every needs right into teenage and early adult life.

We believe this is the worst women's rights violation in the history of the world. Forced abortion ... is a crime against humanity," Smith Rep. Chris Smith, R.-N.J.

Circumvention through birth tourism This is when women want to have a second child so they end up giving birth overseas this usually happened in Japan but now the Japanese government are starting to give out fines for Chinese babies being born in their hospitals so many Chinese citizens have resorted to going g to the Saipan island in the Northern Mariana Islands. This place allows Chinese visitors without visa restrictions into their country, therefore this country has an increase in Chinese babies.

China is probably not going to change its ways anytime soon. ... I really dont think they thought about the long-term effects of the policy. For many of the Chinese, theyve accepted it as a way of life." Kai Pan, 23, first-generation ChineseAmerican

What is good and bad about the policy?

Benefits:

The forecasted famine will never happen . The environment would be greener. An estimate of 400 million fewer people would be been born. Controlling population has allowed China to develop and reduced strain on public services such as schools and hospitals. Standards of living have increased. After they control the amounts hopefully the one child policy would be abolished. Increase in female infanticide .This due to the long tradition of son preference in china many families wanted males to carry on family name after marriage this lead to a diverse impact of men not getting married because there were hardly any women. If rules were broken then large amounts of fines could take place if you cant pay fine then your house would be sold leaving you homeless. Abortion. Goes against human rights. Social problems- because families only have one child they tend to spoil the kid and start having high expectations for its future this is also called little emperor syndrome. As a result, the gender balance of the Chinese population has become distorted. Today it is thought that men outnumber women by more than 60 million. Trafficking in children- 801 arrested and 181 youngsters rescued. This is a big problem in China, where the strict one-child policy has prompted a thriving market in babies.

Bad Points

My Opinion
This policy repulses me this is because commissioning abortions and forced sterilisation is just wrong not even one person should be persuading you to have an abortion especially if you are 7 months pregnant as terminating the baby at this stage is in my opinion considered as murder. This is also giving me the impression that this new policy is turning people into criminals as every child should have the chance of living life to the fullest .I also believe that this is against human rights as no one should have control over your own body apart from you! I feel as if women in the country are facing the most problems due to this one child policy as the ones giving birth are these women and they will be going through privacy problems caused by granny police and end up bearing the harsh reality of terminating their own baby after taking so much care of the baby by carrying for the child for 7 months and feeding it. So therefore the mother would have became emotionally attached to their baby and this feeling would be the most stressful and the most upsetting part of a womens life. The other fact is the long tradition of son preference in china. Many families wanted males to carry on the family name after marriage, and this meant that female infanticide was increasing. As a result of this ,this lead to a diverse impact of men not getting married because there were hardly any women. But also by doing my research I've learned that this policy was only commissioned in the urban areas whereas the rural areas were still free to have as many kids as possible so I don't see why they cant just move some of the families to rural areas as its a much better alternative than forcing abortions on to vulnerable women . On the other hand I can also see the good side to the policy because an estimated 400million children wont be born causing the population to decrease this would therefore improve standards of living such as china overcoming potential threats such as famine and poverty, this will also make their surroundings a lot more greener because less houses would be built therefore meaning less land being used for industrial purposes. This would also suggest an improvement on the strains set up on the hospitals and school because it would mean they could be more hygienic and successful, causing the economy to boom as more people would be educated so therefore they could afford to buy a better lifestyle. So in conclusion I can see how this policy can help improve the standards of living in the country as well as at the same time killing the reputation of it.