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China’s One Child Policy Essay

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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 …show more content…

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. However, China’s one child policy has been effective in some ways. Although, it is true that the

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