Long-hated one-child rule may be eased in China The one-child policy, introduced in the 1970s to curb population growth, is now being reconsidered as China faces problems with an aging population and workforce. The policy led to forced abortions and sterilizations. Many families now only want one child due to economic concerns. Experts warn that China risks having too few young workers to support the elderly as its population declines. The government may allow some exceptions or refinements to the one-child limit but not eliminate it entirely. Changing the policy would mark a major shift after 30 years of strict control over family size.

1. Long-hated one-child rule may be eased in China
By ALEXA OLESEN (AP) – 2 days ago
DAFENG, China — When asked why she and her husband do not want a second child, Shi
Xiaomei smiles at her pudgy 9-year-old son and does a quick tally of the family budget.
Her salary as a cleaning lady and the income from a mahjong parlor in their spare room barely
cover their son's school fees and other expenses.
"With just one, we can give him nicer things. But if you tried to split what we have between two
or three, they would all end up with nothing," the 34-year-old says at her home in Dafeng, a
prosperous but still-rural county 185 miles (300 kilometers) north of Shanghai.
For years, China curbed its once-explosive population growth with a widely hated one-child limit
that at its peak led to forced abortions, sterilizations and even infanticide. Now the long-
sacrosanct policy may be on its way out, as some demographers warn that China is facing the
opposite problem: not enough babies.
A stroll down the dirt path linking Shi's close-knit neighborhood suggests why.
Though a little-known exception allows a second child when both parents are single children
themselves, there are few takers.
"Why would we want another one? That's just looking for trouble," said Huang Xiaochen, 28,
mother of a year-old son.
"Kids are running in and out of here all the time," her husband Zhu Yingzhun said, pointing to
his front door which, like many here, is often left open. "He doesn't need a sibling to have
someone to play with."
Officially, the government remains committed to the one-child policy. But it also commissioned
feasibility studies last year on what would happen should it eliminate the policy or do nothing.
An official with the National Population and Family Planning Commission said privately that the
agency is looking at ways to refine the limit without getting rid of it.
A people shortage may seem unlikely in a country of 1.3 billion, the most in the world. The
concern, though, is not with the overall number. Rather, as the population shrinks, which is
projected to begin in about 15 years, China may find itself with the wrong mix of people: too few
young workers to support an aging population.
It is a combination that could slow or, in a worst-case scenario, even reverse China's surging
economic growth. The government and families will have to tap savings to care for the elderly,
reducing funds for investment and driving up interest rates. At the same time, labor costs
probably will rise as the work force shrinks and squeeze out some industries.
In a survey of 18,638 women in Dafeng and six other counties in Jiangsu province, 69 percent of

2. those eligible to have a second child said they would stop at one, with economics being the major
factor. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences survey did not calculate a margin of error.
"Government control is no longer necessary to maintain low fertility,"
Zheng Zhenzhen, who headed the study, wrote in the November issue of Asian Population
Studies magazine. "A carefully planned relaxation of the birth-control policy in China is unlikely
to lead to an unwanted baby boom."
Family size has dropped dramatically since the 1970s, when the average Chinese woman had
five to six children. Today, China's fertility rate is 1.5 children per woman. Most families have
just one, but exceptions allow multiple children for ethnic minorities and a second one for rural
families whose first baby is a girl.
If that fertility rate holds, China's population will peak at 1.4 billion in 2026 and then start
shrinking, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By the end of this century, China's population
would be cut almost in half to 750 million, according to a model developed by Wang Feng, a
demographer at the University of California, Irvine. That would still be two and a half times
bigger than the U.S. today.
Wang says the government's focus on slowing population growth has dangerous side effects.
In just 10 years, the age 20-24 population is expected to be half of today's 124 million, a shift
that could hurt China's economic competitiveness by driving up wages. Over the same period,
the proportion of the population over 60 is expected to climb from 12 percent — or 167 million
people — to 17 percent.
"We feel like we're seismologists, you know," said Wang, who has helped lead a data-driven
campaign to persuade the government to drop the one-child policy. "This earthquake is
happening and most people don't see it. We feel we have the knowledge to detect this and we
should tell the public."
Another concern is a surplus of males. Sonograms became more widely available in the 1990s,
and some parents who wanted a son aborted their baby if they learned it was a girl.
Though the practice is illegal, statistics make clear that it is widespread. The male-female ratio at
birth was 119 males to 100 females in 2009, compared with a global average of 107 to 100.
Experts fear that, in the years to come, the gender imbalance will create a frustrated generation of
men unable to find spouses. That in turn could fuel the trafficking of women and girls to be sold
as brides.
Still, not all experts agree the one-child rule should be dropped.
Li Xiaoping, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, welcomes the coming
population decline, saying it will ease food and water shortages and limit pollution. Writing in
the state-run China Daily newspaper, Li said the government should stand firm on the one-child
limit while finding ways to boost the earning power of a smaller work force.

3. A change would mark a turnaround from a 30-year-old policy that dates from an era when the
Communist Party controlled every aspect of peoples' lives: where they lived and worked, who
and when they married and how many children they could have.
The government credits the rule with raising millions out of poverty by preventing 400 million
additional births. The gains have come at a cost, however. Families who violated the one-child
rule were fined. Some lost their jobs or homes.
Others underwent forced abortions or sterilizations, the subject of well-known author Mo Yan's
latest book, "Frog," the tale of a rural midwife who struggles with an emotional breakdown after
a 30-year career performing such brutal procedures.
"Yes, our slowed population growth delivered economic prosperity, but needless to say, we've
paid a great price," said Mo, whose book was inspired by his aunt, a country doctor. "No matter
how you look at it, it's been a tragedy."
Xie Zhenming, who heads the government-funded, research-oriented China Population
Association, expects change within the next five years, gradually, in steps.
Susan Greenhalgh, an expert on the policy's history, agrees. The anthropology professor at the
University of California, Irvine, believes the government will avoid dramatic change, out of fear
that it could revive bad memories and make people wonder whether such a harsh measure was
ever necessary.
"My view is that it will gradually be taken apart, piece by piece, over the next few years," she
said, "until we all wake up and discover that, lo and behold, the one-child policy has been
dismantled to the point that it's no longer a one-child policy."
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

4. China's one-child policy causes extra pain
Grief, anger engulf parents whose only child perished in 7.9-earthquake
Bi Kaiwei holds a photo of his daughter, Bi Yuexing, who was killed when her schoolroom collapsed in
Monday's earthquake in China's southwest Sichuan province. China death toll nears 20,000
May 16, 2008
WUFU, China - Bi Kaiwei and his wife, Meilin, stopped having children after their daughter was born,
taking to heart China's one-child policy and its slogan "Have fewer kids, live better lives."
For them and other couples who lost an only child in this week's massive earthquake, the tragedy has
been doubly cruel. Robbed of their sole progeny and a hope for the future, they find it even harder to
restart their shattered lives, haunted by added guilt, regret and gnawing loss.
"She died before becoming even a young adult," said Bi, an intense, wiry chemical plant worker, standing
beside the grave of 13-year-old Yuexing — one of dozens sprinkled amid fields of ripened spring wheat
and newly planted rice. "She never really knew what life was like."
Yuexing, a bright sixth-grader, was in school when Monday's quake struck, bringing the Fuxin No. 2
Primary School crashing down, killing her and 200 other students. Teachers had locked all but one of the
school's doors during break time, parents said, leaving only a single door to escape through.
A couple's only child
Many among the more than 22,000 people killed across central China were students in school. Nearly
6,900 classrooms collapsed, government officials said Friday, in an admission that highlighted a
chronically underfunded education system especially in small towns and compounded the anger of many
Chinese over the quake.
In Wufu, a farming village two hours north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, most of the dead
students were a couple's only child — born under a policy launched in the late 1970s to limit many

5. families to one offspring. The policy was meant to rein in China's exploding population and ensure better
education and health care.
The "one-child policy" has been contentious inside China as well as out. The government says it has
prevented an additional 400 million births. But critics say it has also led to forced abortions, sterilizations
and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio as local authorities pursue sometimes severe birth quotas set by
Beijing and families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs. The policy is law but there are
exceptions.
'The child is dead'
Farther down the lane from where Yuexing is buried, 10 more graves were laid out, some accompanied
by favorite items — textbooks for English and music, a pencil box, a Chinese chess set. At one, a
grandmother threw herself to the dirt and wailed as her husband lighted a handful of "spirit paper"
believed to comfort the dead in the afterlife.
Another bereaved parent, Sang Jun, stood where his daughter, Rui, is buried, a simple mound of dirt
beside his quake-shattered farmhouse. The house is surrounded by burned bushes — a traditional
disinfectant.
"The house is gone and the child is dead," said Sang, who wore a T-shirt and plastic sandals. His
parents, both in their 70s, looked on with tears in their eyes.
Resistance by ordinary Chinese has forced Beijing to relax its child policies, allowing many rural families
to have a second child if the first was a girl. But in Wufu, the family planning committee seems to have
prevailed on most families to stop at one child. Slogans daubed on boundary walls and houses all along
the rutted country road leading to Wufu call on families to "stabilize family planning and create a brighter
future."
Standing in the rubble of the school holding his daughter's ID and a posed shot taken at a local salon, Bi
said starting a new family, either by having another child or adoption, is simply imponderable.
"I'm 37 years old and my child was 13. If we were to do it again, I'd be 50 when this stage comes along,"
Bi said.
Parents who lose children in disasters often feel intense guilt for what they see as a failure to protect
them, said psychology professor Shi Zhanbiao. Parents, he said, may also recall their past relationships
with their children with regret, thinking they were too stern, did not show them sufficient love or did not
interact with them enough.
"They'll think that if they just hadn't sent their children to school that day, they would have been saved,"
said Shi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing.
'We have nothing else'
The loss is intensified for those with no other offspring to lavish with care and affection, Shi said. And in
China, other, more practical concerns may also come into play because children are generally expected
to care for their aging parents.
"They'll be worried about the future, because for the later part of their lives, they'll have no one to depend
on," Shi said.
Bi said Yuexing was polite and smart. She had won a coveted place at the county's best high school on
the recommendation of a teacher. She was a top student who got better after the family moved closer to
school to reduce her commuting time, said Bi, who completed high school but failed the national
university entrance exam.

6. Anti-natal Policy (China)
The Chinese government introduced the policy in 1979 to alleviate social,
1979 economic, and environmental problems in China, and authorities claim that
the policy has prevented 250 million births from its implementation to 2000
Mechanisms of the One Child Policy
Overview
The One Child Policy is the policy of having just one child in rural and urban areas of China. Starting in
1979, the policy was created because of an enormous predicted growth of the Chinese population. If the
rise continued, resources and lifestyle would deplete / worsen. The limit is more strict in urban areas, but
varies from location to location. Additional children will result in large fines: families violating the policy are
made to pay monetary penalties and might be denied bonuses at their workplace, normally the price they
have to pay for a second child is all the education and health care they got for free for their first child, this
can sometimes be as much as a whole years salary.
China's population growth rate has reduced to 0.6, the second lowest in the world, this shows that, so far,
the policy is working.
Exceptions
• Children born outside of China are legal if they do not obtain citizenship.
• In most rural areas, families are allowed to have another child if the first child is female or
disabled, this is because the population in these areas are normally lower, but the second child is
subject to birth spacing of 3 or 4 years.
• Twins and triplets have no restrictions on them, so many women abuse this right and deliberately
take fertility drugs.
• 'Han-Chinese', the ethnic group totaling 10% of China's population, is subject to different rights
and can be allowed 3 or 4 children in rural areas.
Propaganda
The technique of propaganda is used in China to try to encourage people within the country to only have
one baby. The country's government heavily promoted the idea of one 'one child good, two children is
okay, three children is too many' and 'Small family = happy family' during the 1970s, before any official
laws were implemented. Now, of course, one child (with noted exception) is the maximum and strict laws
ensure this is kept.
Methods of limiting baby production on posters were produced for use in display cases, featuring popular
visuals and baby boys to appeal to a wide audience, in rural and urban areas.
Demographic Structure - Dependency Ratios
Over 25 years ago China was concerned about having too many children to support, now they
are facing the complete opposite, because of the result of the 'One Child' policy, the country
faces the prospect of not having enough children to support the ageing population.

7. In the year 2000 there were more than enough children to support the older generation, but a
study of China's population shows that in 2050 there will be just under enough children to
support the older generation.
As the "One-Child" policy nears its next generation, one adult "child" is left to look after two
adults and four grandparents. This is known as the "One-Two-Four" problem. This creates the
issue of extremely high pension rates.
The National Dependency ratio of China is 38.6%. This is one of the highest Dependency ratios
in the world.
Population Pyramids, China: 2000 and 2050
2000 2050
• Source: World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision (2005).
Due to the dramatic fertility decline and the improved longevity over the past two decades,
China's population is ageing at one of the fastest rates ever recorded, this is also accompanied
by an increase in the prevalence of chronic disease and disability in the population. Meeting the
health and long-term care needs of this growing elderly population will result in soaring health
care costs and with a shrinking working-age population to help pay the bill.
Chinese health officials implemented various chronic-disease prevention programs at the national
level, they are also starting to set up long-term care delivery systems for the elderly. But while
China's economy carries on growing rapidly, whether it will be able to allocate enough income to
meet these rising health care costs remains as a major concern.
Percentage of Older Adults (Age 65+) in China, 1950-2050

8. With China's life expectancy increasing the older generation are living longer, and not only are
they expecting their children to provide for the in later life but their grandchildren as well. This
means that with this policy, one child will be providing for 6 adults.
Gender selection
For years, China's history has considered men superior to women. Boys are given the right to carry on
the family name and they were allowed to be emperors while women could not.
The government has banned gender selection for new born babies by induced abortion and ultrasounds.
This has not stopped it from happening because some doctors will perform these services for extra
money. This is problem is greater in rural areas because they want boys to help on farms and with the
family.
Also there is a huge shortage of girls due to this. So a "girl care project" has been introduced and is a
system that will hopefully increase the number of girl births. Women who give birth to girls and keep them
will be rewarded. There will also be benifits for girls such as their school fees being exempt. Families with
daughters only are given preferential treatment with health care, employment and housing. The
government is also committed to solving this genre imbalance with education campaigns, punishments for
sex-selective abortions and rewards like retirement pensions for parents who have girls.
In 2005 there was an average of 123 boys born to every 100 girls born. In some regions, the figure has hit
130 boys for every 100 girls.

9. This table shows the Infant mortality in China by sex.
Year 1973-75 1981 1987 1990 2000
Boys 48.9 38.7 39.9 25.5 26.5
Girls 42.8 36.7 40.8 29.4 38.9
Both sexes - 37.7 40.3 27.3 32.2
Ratio G/B 0.88 0.95 1.02 1.15 1.46
•
If the female to male ration does not change then by 2040 there will be 30 million men at the age
of marriage unable to find wives. This could cause some social problems. One way to solve this
problem would be to impliment a proper social security system, to make couples in rural areas
feel they do not need to rely on a son when they get old and need help.
Due to China's 1 one-child policy, the population has started rebelling against the government.
The army had to unleash forces to break up the protests.
The riots are still happening as we speak.
More than 50 thousand people gathered together to protest against forced abortions, sterilizations and
hysterectomies.
The Chinese army went to the protesters and violently broke up the protest, killing 2 and injuring
hundreds. The population have attacked family planning officials overturned cars and set fire to
government buildings in a riot.
All the coverage of the protest eventually made its way to the internet which then provoked a world-wide
response. After this, the CCP has censored all coverage and deleted all related information from
websites.
Civil Rights
China’s one child policy is considered immoral and ineffective by many people. However the Chinese
population is growing and in a few years time the population will be so high that there could be a severe

10. shortage in food which could lead to starvation. So, because of this, is it right for the following
discriminations to be inflicted on the population of China?
• Human right violations
• Forced abortions
• Female infanticide
• Abandonment
• Sex-selective abortions
• Bribery
• Forced sterilization
• Coercion
• There is a 118:100 male to female ratio, which is a serious unbalance in the sex of the
population.
• It has been reported that women up to 8 and a half months pregnant are having abortions, some
would consider this as extremely immoral, by this stage of the pregnancy the child is fully
developed, is this not considered as murder?
• Women are being forced to be sterilized after having one child, so they can no longer have any
more children.
• Women who become pregnant either by choice of by accident, become so afraid of what will
happen if they get found out that they go into hiding, and give birth to their children without telling
anyone. However now there are special organisations which employ people to keep watch on all
the women during their child-bearing years. Women are asked personal questions by there
people so they can keep watch on any women who have missed their menstrual cycle, or seem
to be broody. This is considered as controlling a woman (and her family’s) life, people should be
in control of their own lives, and not be scared into doing something that is immorally wrong.
• Forced abortion is one of the main catastrophes that are taking place in China. A women aged 27
was nine months pregnant when two people who were said to be from the government sector that
was in charge of the one-child policy, came into her house and took her away to their quarters.
Here the woman was injected into her womb by a doctor, and the baby was aborted. This not only
is extreme violation of human rights, but in many peoples eyes, murder. It is not right that any
woman she be forced to go through such an atrocity, for the sake of the government’s beliefs.
Woman are not only scarred by these memories, but the woman who went through this trauma is
not unable to have any more children, and is suffering mentally and physically from it. In the
article concerning this story it was said that the husband was called and made his way to the
place where the abortion had happened. The husband arrived there finding his 9 month old
daughter dead. The husband was not even informed of the abortion before it took place. What
kind of country lets atrocities like this happen? It has even been said that these sorts of things
have been happening since the 1970’s.
Little Emperor Syndrome
What is it?
Little emperor syndrome is a name for a condition which affects both parents and their only child. With
both parents giving all their attention to one child and spoiling it, the child feels more important.
Demographically:
One cause of the Little Emperor Syndrome is the structure of the family. The structure is a 4-2-1
structure, four grandparents, two parents and one child this means that more attention is spent on the

11. child by both the grandparents and parents, so six people are giving one child undivided attention and
therefore that child becomes spoilt and think they are the centre of everyone's universe.
The Chinese have a special name for children with Little Emperors Syndrome, "xiao huangdi", or "little
emperors." Editor of a prominent literary journal, Yang Xiaosheng says that China’s children are growing
up as self centered, narrow minded and incapable of accepting criticism.
In rural areas, the “little emperor syndrome” rarely appears, as families will often have 5 or 6 children so
no one child is lavished upon, however in urban areas where the one child policy is enforced, 20% of
people under 25 have been raised in a one child family (100 million).
Economic:
Hill and Knowlton and Seventeen magazine, surveyed 1,200 students at 64 universities in Beijing and
Shanghai and found that 60% of the people were spending more than $60 a month on unessential itemss
a huge amount of money considering that their monthly income averages at less than $250.
These little emperors and empresses, are growing up in an era of prosperity, their parents before as their
parents and grandparents grew up with the famine under Mao’s disastrous agriculture policy.
Food:
The little emperors and empresses are brought up on cheeseburgers, pizza and fried chicken. In big
cities, one in five children under 18 suffers from obesity. These children are growing up without any self
control and therefore it is producing a generation of overweight people. Connections have been found
between the “Little Emperor syndrome” and type 2 diabetes (related to obesity). The population pyramid
of China is top heavy, therefore usually all 4 grandparents are usually alive and have been known to over
nourish their grandchildren, meaning that a lot of children in that generation are overweight.
Pressure:
Due to the one child policy and therefore the family being carried on by one heir, the child recieves more
pressure on them to achieve and do well in their education so that the child can take care of the parent in
their old age.
Gender:
Gender affects the Little Emperors Syndrome as boys are valued more highly than girls. Due to this the
percentage of boys who are accused of being spoilt is higher than the percentage of girls. For example a
BBC News Article interviewed a woman who said that her Grandmother wasn't even named because her
family didn't feel that girls were important enough to have names.
Consequences:
Some people worry that as a result of the Little Emperors Syndrome it will result in a higher tendency
toward poor social communication and cooperation skills as they have no siblings at home. Some
people also believe that as a result of being an only child you have a very lonely childhood and an
awkward adulthood. The children who belong to a one child family are often spoiled or pressured into
succeeding to carry on the family name.

12. Another consequence is that as a result of the one child policy, children who have suffered from being
spoilt have trouble getting a career in later life as their employers don't like their self importance and
therefore don't want to hire them, these people who were spoilt as children often have trouble adjusting to
the independent lifestyle of working in offices and other such work places so therefore are less likely to be
employed. A female representative from a Hydro Scheme said, "Students from cities and only children
cannot endure the hardships incurred in the process of geological exploration. Brain drain is rife," she
also said that only children will tend to want to work close to home and their parents. Workers from the
Investigation Design Institute of Water Conservation and Electric Power in Cangzhou city, Hebei
Province, were of the same opinion: "Experience proves that lots of only children are prone to be
effeminate and overconfident," said an anonymous spokesman. "Sixty per cent of staff who are only
children will hop from job to job. My company attaches more importance to strong will and vitality to
conquer hardships."
Success of china’s one child policy
What has happened?
China’s one child policy was instigated in 1979 to reduce the population growth and avoid numerous
disasters such as pressure on resources (water, food, medical care, housing) and a virus such as SARS
will not spread as fast as if the population was bigger.
Penalties are implemented on violators, there are fined or if the person is caught prior to giving birth an
abortion in forced upon the woman.
Over the last three decades china's one child policy has prevented 400 million births. The average
number of births to a couple has declined from 6 in 1970 to 1.8 in 2006.
Since the regulations were introduced in 1979, China has kept its population in check using persuasion,
coercion and encouragement.
It has been over 30 years since the population control policy began, and it does not look like they will be
removing it any time soon.
But Wang Feng, from University of California, says that this reduction is mainly due to a fall in the fertility
rate in the 1970s (due to normal factors), rather than any more recent policy initiatives.
Who is benefiting now?
Children in urban areas are benefiting from the one child policy; with no sibling competition they have a
better education, a greater amount of attention. The parents have very high expectation for their children
and therefore encouraging them to excel in school and in extra curricular activities. But this increased
pressure on the children has caused some to comit suicide.
Children in rural areas benefit as well, the policy has permitted children to go to school and receive a
good education.
The fertility rate has helped reduce the population size, therefore avoiding or reducing certain sever
problems, epidemics, slums, overwhelmed social services and strain on the ecosystem.
Who is not benefiting now?
An activist called Chen Guangcheng was sent to prison last year, he said they illegally forced

13. women to have late-term abortions and be sterilized.
Women are forced into having abortions and are sterilized, and in rural areas many couples are
killing the baby girls. When the women get married, then they move in with their husbands
family and leave their parents; whereas boys stay with their parents and his wife comes and lives
with them.
The predicated pyramid suggests that there will be a decline in the birth rate, but a very low
death rate. There will be a very high population dependency; the older generations will need a lot
of funding for retirements. Unfortunately not enough people will be able to finance the older
generation, so taxes will rise.
Will it benefit at longer term?
Many Chinese and foreign academics believe this is a mistake and will result in a number of serious
demographic problems in the future.
Chinese officials say the current fertility rate is between 1.7 and 1.8 births per woman, well below the 2.1
births needed to keep the population at a stable level.
The children in the urban areas will benefit from china’s one child policy, there are treated like “little
emperors” therefore there future is very promising.
Future of China's One Child Policy
At the moment it is very important for china to make predictions and concern about the future of
its population. Theories have been made and laws instigated to try and avoid the estimations.
It is said in less than 30 years, China's population is predicted to peak at 1.5 billion, and then
start to shrink. By then, 20 % of the population will be over age 65, compared with seven % at
the present.
Wang Feng, an expert on Chinese population issues at the University of California – Irvine
states.
"The increase of labor force supply will stop by 2013 and will start instead to decline," he noted.

14. "So for the Chinese economy, although unemployment is a concern, continued supply of young
labor, skilled labor, is one of the engines of China's success in the global economy."
It is believed by 2020, there will be around 40 million Chinese men incapable to marry, since too
few girls will have been born. Sociologists say that could activate aggressive behavior amid
irritated bachelors, including trafficking and in women kidnapping.
Several options for the future have been recommended. One option is that everyone could be
allowed to have up to two children, with a gap of at least five years between them.1 It has been
predicted that this alternative would yield a total fertility rate of 1.7 during the next two decades,
which would help to normalize the sex ratio, reduce the 4:2:1 phenomenon, and be acceptable to
the majority of people.
But the government feels that care is still essential. It is feared that any fickleness in
implementation of the policy may compromise the objective of keeping the population below 1.4
billion by 2010, which in turn could pressure economic growth and stability. There are particular
worries about the increasing level of migration from rural to urban areas, which has fueled
substantial urban growth.
Population Pyramids, China: 2000 and 2050
In 2000 chinas population pyramid is in a convex shape however in these next 50 years it is
predicted that there will be more old people than young people, which means that the population
will start declining.
China's Anti-natalist One Child Population Policy

15. 'It is good to have only one child'
What do you already know about China's One Child Policy?

16. What you know already know
How you do you see the OCP in your everyday lives here in China?
e.g. propaganda posters on the free (It’s good to have one child”
What questions do you have about the OCP?
What is China's One Child Policy?

17. How does the policy work?
How does it encourage families to have only one child?
Where is China?
• Sounds like a silly question - but it's always worth asking!
• Can you draw a sketch map to locate China, show it's scale and label any locations
mentioned in your case study?

18. When was the policy introduced?
• Produce a timeline of the policies introduction and any changes made to it since.
• What is the future of the One Child Policy?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF China's One-Child Policy
Shanghai encourages second child for eligible couples

19. China plans the end of hated one-child policy

20. Why was the One Child Policy introduced?
• What geographical situation caused the Chinese government to introduce the One Child
Policy.
Has China's one-child policy worked?
China's one-child policy - success or failure?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF China's One-Child Policy

21. Give a detailed explanation of the reasons why the one child policy was introduced.
Historical Factors include:
Social
E.g. things related to
-education
-health
-services
-well-being
-quality of life
-etc.
Economic
E.g. things related to
-finances
-industry
-consumption
-resources
-developmental sustainability
-etc.
Example: After the disastrous famines of the Great Leap Forward (30 million people died due to famine
caused by lack of food) the Chinese government realized that if they wanted their collectivized method of
industrialization to work (i.e. move people away from the agricultural sector to the secondary sector) they
were going to have stem population growth otherwise they would continue to have a problem with food
production. The baby booms or high fertility rates before and after the TGF suggested that drastic
measures had to be taken to reduce Fertility Rates and Population Growth rates. However, OCP (1979)
was not the first attempt, In 1970, the government issued three reproductive norms: late marriage, longer
spacing between births and fewer children. Men were encouraged to marry no earlier than 28 yrs old (25
yrs in rural areas) and women no earlier than 25 yrs old (23 yrs in rural areas). After the first child,
couples were encouraged to allow four years between any subsequent births. The fewer children norm
suggested two children for urban families and three for rural ones. In 1979, the failure of the previous
attempts became clear, and authorities limited households to only one child.”
http://www.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/pop-chi.html
I.E. If China wanted to develop its industry- they needed to stop the population growth because (as seen in
the GLF) if they didn’t, the country could not produce enough food.
Environmental
E.g. things related to
-Natural Resources
-Environmental Sustainability
-pollution
-etc.

22. How Successful?
• You must be able to evaluate the population policies that you study?
• How successful has China's One Child Policy been?
• Don't forget to look at the positive as well as the negative aspects.

23. Give a Detailed Account of the Positives by placing any relevant material in the following
categories.
Social
E.g. things related to
-education
-health
-services
-well-being
-quality of life
-etc.
Economic
E.g. things related to
-finances
-industry
-consumption
-resources
-developmental sustainability
-etc.
Environmental
E.g. things related to
-Natural Resources
-Environmental Sustainability
-pollution
-etc.
Political
E.g. things related to
-government
-foreign relations
-domestic relations
-regional power
-national power
-Etc.

24. Government attempts to control population growth are
ineffective.” Discuss this statement. [15 Marks]

25. *Its important you understand what the question is asking you for. Notice it is not saying
discuss the positives and negatives of the OCP- or evaluate the OCP, what this question is
asking you to do is discuss whether or not a government can control population growth. You
should use the OCP, discuss how effective it has been at slowing population growth in
China.
To certain Extent the OCP has been effective/ineffective
Point 1 + Explanation and evidence
Point 2 + Explanation and evidence
Point 3 + Explanation and evidence
To a larger Extent they are effective/ineffective
Point 1 + Explanation and evidence
Point 2 + Explanation and evidence
Point 3 + Explanation and evidence
Points you could discuss
Effective
Could be Either
Ineffective
Slowed population growth (prevented 250 million births)
Relieved pressure on food supply and allowed country to develop its industry
OCP vs previous attempts to control population growth in China
TFR= 1.8 in 2009
Population will begin to shrink in 15 years
Population momentum and longer life expectancy have neutralized most demographic benefits
of the OCP.
Family planning clinics are now forbidden to tell sex of child (many get around it getting
“black market” ultrasounds
Causes problems

26. One Child Policy Notes
One problem created by OCP is too many boys in Rural Areas
Reasons
 Carry Family Name
 Support Family
 Help work in the fields
This lead to abortion of girls- Hainan province has 135-100 girls, other places are as high as
170-100
OCP required rural families to wait 4 years before having children. This was cancelled in
order to improve sex rations
 Lead to fewer abortions
 Increase in # of girls being born
Families given economic incentives to have girls-
 Old age pensions
 Subsidies
 Land to farm
 Funds to build home
UNFP: Family planning clinics are now forbidden to tell sex of child (many get around it
getting “black market” ultrasounds
 New apporoach = more balanced sex rations, fewer abortions, better maternal and
child health.