PSU

1. Nancy Taban
Professor Nicholson
English Composition 110
November 15th, 2018
One Child Policy in China
Thesis: The Chinese government intended to make the one child policy to be a good thing
but instead it developed a lot of issues. The one child policy in China was intended to control
the growth of population but instead it led to unintended and negative outcomes, such as an
aging population, changes in the social structure, and gender equality. <-- (3 reasoning)
I. Aging Population
A. Financial burden on government due to lower income because of the rapidly aging
population
B. ‘’If one accepts that the OCP did reduce the fertility rate, then population aging is one of
the significant consequences of the reduction in births over more than three decades’’ (Sudbeck
2012).
C. With the fast-growing retirees the Chinese pension system is facing a burden because the
elders are retiring and not enough younger workers available to replace the existing workers and
with this it’s dragging the system into deficits.
II. Changes in the social structure
A. A society that is governed and ruled, when the one child policy became implemented the
Chinese structure also changed.
1. Marriage
2. Post-marital residence patterns
3. Gender roles
4. Parental investment

2. B. ‘’ Social structure can be defined as "rule-governed relationships-with all their rights and
obligations-that hold members of a society together. This includes households, families,
associations, and power relations, including politics’’ (Havilland et al. 2007:155).
C. The Chinese one child policy transformed the social structure as there were a lot of
consequences due to the law change.
III. Gender Equality
A. From the time 1950s to 1970s Chinese sex ratio reminded very close but when the one child
policy was implemented the preferences for a male child was very important, people would use
technology such as ultrasound scan and induced abortion, it began to look very specious and it
was a major increase in the male ratio growth.
B. ‘’The sex ratio imbalance has serious consequences. Guilmoto (2012) estimates that the
number of prospective grooms will exceed the number of prospective brides by more than 50%
for at least three decades’’.
C. The Chinese culture made having sons is very important. The sons are not viewed as only the
laborer of the family, but also because they help with the older generations. They are seen as the
ones who will continue the family line, and also honor the family name.

3. Works Cited
Banister, Judith. “Shortage of Girls in China Today.” SpringerLink, Springer,
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03032209.
Cameron a, Lisa, and Xin Meng. China’s One Child Policy. 2014,
users.monash.edu.au/~clisa/papers/Proof_Final.
CHEN, XUEFENG. “THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF CHINA’S ONE-CHILD POLICY.”
Http://Web.mit.edu/Lipoff/Www/Hapr/summer03_security/CHEN.pdf.
Greenhalgh, Susan. Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng’s China. 2008,
books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ybIwDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=china+one+
child+policy+labor+forces&ots=d05W0csKRJ&sig=7k7W5zw1IZBYIFX0zA3HJNL_GQY#v=
onepage&q=china%20one%20child%20policy%20labor%20forces&f=false
Kotecki, Peter. “China's 'One-Child' Policy Led to a Demographic Time Bomb, and Now the
Country Is Scrambling to Undo It.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 13 Aug. 2018,
wdtuicgj,.bm ww.businessinsider.com/china-demographic-time-bomb-one-child-limit-2018-8.
Li, H., Yi, lJ. & Zhang, J. Demography (2011) 48: 1535.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-011-0055-

4. “The Effect of China's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years | NEJM.” New England Journal
of Medicine, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmhpr051833.
Sudbeck, Kristine, "The Effects of China's One-Child Policy: The Significance for Chinese
Women" (2012). Nebraska Anthropologist. 179.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebanthro/179