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The Rise Of The Communist Party

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Ever since the Communist Party came to power in 1949 in China, the leader Chairman Mao (Mao Zedong), who believed deeply in manpower, encouraged bigger families with more children. To accomplish this, he abandoned abortions and the use of contraception. His ultimate goal was to increase the labor force and the strength and power of the People 's Liberation Army. It was estimated that there was around 540 million people in the country in 1949. However, the number quickly grew into around 940 million in 1979. The number almost doubled in 30 years and quickly approaching to one billion. The new leader Deng Xiaoping who firmly believed “development is the absolute principle”. Under his leadership, he started to give serious consideration to control the rapid population growth rate. Initially, the Chinese government established a voluntary program in 1978 which suggested that married couples should limit their family size to no more than two children, preferably one child. However, the policy quickly developed into a single child per couple because of the large population base. It was not evenly practiced throughout the countrywide due to a lack of supervision force. Slogans such as “better and fewer births, happiness throughout your whole life” painted on the walls were seen in many villages. The policy was directed in 1979 officially by the central government to limit each family to one child only with some exceptions, however there were still problems with the enforcement

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