China’s One-Child Policy: Destructive or Constructive?
Classical Argument Essay
China’s one-child policy has created a wide range of debates as to whether it is helpful or detrimental to the country due to the conditions it holds. In 1978, China discussed a law stating married couples could only have one child within their lifetime. This policy was eventually applied a couple years later, in 1980, after they discussed the various terms of the policy. After several years of action, China added flexibility to this law, allowing families to have another child after five years as long as their first child is female. The one-child policy was originally enacted as a temporary solution to control the bursting population of the country, however
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Li and Zhang state, “the one-child policy may indeed have contributed to the rapid growth of the Chinese economy since the late 1970s”, after conducting their study (Li and Zhang 116). If China’s population had grown at the rate that it was before the 1980s, it is highly possible that the country would have ended up crashing in production with little people actually living the comfortable lives that they do now. While the population is still growing, it is not at as rapid of a rate as years previous to the policy. Li and Zhang find, “Shanghai achieved a birth rate as low as 0.6% in the period 1993–1998” (Li and Zhang 112), showing that even highly populated areas can keep growth under control when certain conditions are met. Li and Zhang state the reduction in birth rate has made the biggest contribution as it has affected more than just the population.
With less people inhabiting the country, unemployment has dropped significantly. Cheap labor has resulted in a surplus of jobs being offered because the country can afford to pay a lot more people. Due to citizens being willing to work cheaply, the country they live in is more inclined to offer multiple positions to people searching for an occupation. This results in less people going without jobs. Nakra states, “Economists project that in the next 20 years the working-age group will fall in China by around 100 million people” (Nakra 137), with the policy there will be plenty of jobs available. With less children in the
China’s one-child policy caused the policy nation to have fewer workers and more elderly.The number of youth workers has gone down factories report. In 2007 there were six adults for every retiree, but by 2040 that ratio is expected to drop to 2 to 1. Too few children to care for them, China’s
China's One Child Policy was a very bad idea and should not have been implemented at all. If Chinese couples want to have as many kids as they want then instead of averting birth China should have to adapt to the changes and support the families. China could branch out or expand land for farming needs to support the increase of
Governments, corporations, and nongovernmental organizations are constantly working together to try and get rid of the 1 child law. By getting rid of this law, there will be a larger population throughout China which will be able to go into the different work fields that are available. There will also be a larger number to take care of the elderly and the overall population will increase.
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.
The final reason that the one-child policy was a bad idea is because of the fact that China’s fertility rate was already decreasing and was one of the lowest rates compared to Brazil, South Korea, and Thailand in 1979 making the policy pointless and unnecessary. “The claim by the Chinese officials that the one child policy has helped avert over 400 million births simply cannot be substantiated by
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
In 1980 China introduced the one-child policy to save it from a famine. In 1980 China had a fertility rate of 2.7 children per women that lived in China. Document B states, “The claim by Chinese officials that the one child policy has helped avert 400 million births simply cannot be substantiated by facts.” The fertility rate means the number of children a women has in her lifetime. Since 1980, China's one child policy is helping
With more than 1.3 billion people, China has to think about a solution and find ways to deal with its population explosion. In order to have control over population, in 1970, a policy named China’s One Child Policy was introduced. Mingliang argues that, “China, through the one-child policy, has instituted the most aggressive, comprehensive population policy in the world” (1). This policy limits all families in the Republic of China to have only one child, regardless of the sex: however, within this policy there are some exceptions. It is possible to have two children only if the first child is born with a disability, if parents work in a high risk job, if the couple lives in villages, or if the family is a non- Han, otherwise you are
There has been a long history of China’s one child policy, since it was first introduces in 1979 by a Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping (Rosenberg n.p). The law was meant to be temporary and used to control the population; however it is still in use today (Rosenberg n.p). When the policy was first enforced, it only
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
“Even before its inception, the one child policy was question for its necessity and its enormous social costs.”(Document B Fertility Rates) China’s One Child Policy was established in 1980 and is still in action today. The One Child Policy was put into action due to the rising population rates. There is a controversial question that has been posed, is China’s One Child Policy a good or bad idea? After all of the evidence that was gathered the One Child Policy in China is not a good idea but does have some positive effects.
The one child policy only hurt China more due to its lowering fertility rate prior to the policy. “China had already achieved a remarkable fertility reduction, halving the number of children per women from 5.8 in 1970 to 2.7 in 1979.” (Document B) The facts shown here show that the policy was not necessary. In addition, since the population was already going
China’s One-Child Policy has been a controversial topic since its implementation back in 1979. Forcing families to have only one child has caused major repercussions that have only been magnified with each generation. In the past thirty years, major unforeseen problems have arisen. The policy had appeared to be a viable solution to curb China’s massive population before it was put into effect, but now the problems with the policy clearly overshadow the benefits. When China faced the problem of a swelling population, rapidly approaching one billion (Doc A), the One-Child Policy appeared to be a good idea.
China has just lifted their infamous One-Child Policy; what are the effects of this action? The One-Child Policy has been estimated to have prevented over 400 million births. However, when introduced, the policy stated that only the Han Chinese could have just one child. It was implemented to help the economy catch up to the population. They lifted this policy for demographic reason, but how will lifting the One-Child Policy make an impact on the nation? The lifting of the One-Child Policy will affect China because it will provide a better balance between the young and the elderly, stimulate economic growth, and maintain their newly found position as an economic power.
China's one child policy was unnecessary because in doc B it shows that in Brazil the fertility rate dropped from 4.2 to 1.9 between 1979 and 2008. In South Korea it shows that it dropped from 2.9 to 1.2 between 1979 and 2008. In Thailand it shows that it dropped from 3.6 to 1.8 between 1979 and 2008.