1. Debate: China "one child" policy
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Is China's "one child" policy sensible?
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Background and context
The one-child policy is the population control policy (or planned birth policy) of the
People's Republic of China (PRC).
The Chinese government introduced the policy in 1979 to alleviate the social and
environmental problems of China. The policy is controversial both within and outside
China because of the issues it raises; because of the manner in which the policy has been
implemented; and because of concerns about negative economic and social consequences.
The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the
income of the family and other factors. However, there are still many citizens that continue
to have more than one child, despite this policy. In February 2008 Chinese Government
official Wu Jianmin said that the one-child policy would be reconsidered during the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March 2008, but at that time a
representative of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission said that
the policy would remain in place for at least another decade.
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Demographics: Is China's "one child" policy demographically sound?
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2. Yes
• The "one child" policy can be
modified to improve
demographics. Some provinces
allow families where each parent
was an "only child" to have two
children. In 2007, except Henan
province, all other provinces in PRC
adopted this new adaption[46].
No
• "One child" exacerbates China's
aging population problem
• "One child" will create a
generation of men without women
to marry Heda Bayron. "Experts:
China's One-Child Population Policy
Producing Socio-Economic
Problems". VOAnews. 7 Mar. 2006
- "By 2020, there will be about 40
million Chinese men unable to
marry, because too few girls will
have been born. Sociologists say that
could trigger aggressive behavior
among frustrated bachelors,
including kidnapping and trafficking
in women."
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Fairness/rights: Is the "one child" rule fair to Chinese citizens? Does it
violate rights?
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Yes
• Extreme overpopulation warrants
the extreme "one child" policy It
is fair to call China's "one child"
policy "extreme". But, it is justified
in the simple sense that China faces
an extreme overpopulation crisis.
Desperate times call for desperate
measures. The Chinese government
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No
• Chinese understand China's
success depends on "one child",
population control. Many Chinese
people are able to have a second
child and are willing to pay the fine.
Yet, they choose not to do so on the
philosophical grounds that it is
better for the country to not have a

3. cannot be blamed for taking these
aggressive, but necessary measures.
• "One child" generally improves
living standards of Chinese
• Chinese can simply pay a fine to
have an extra child. In many
regions of China, families that really
want a second child can have one,
and simply have to pay a fine. But,
in general, Chinese regional
authorities do not go so far as to
absolutely ban having a second
child. Therefore, the status quo
merely discourages and
disincentivizes having a second
child.
• China outlaws physically forcing
women to have abortions While
China previously forced some
women to have abortions, it no
longer does so, and expressly
forbids the practice.
• China plans on ending "one
child" policy in the future Zhao
Baige, vice minister of the National
Population and Family Planning
Commission - "The one-child policy
was the only choice we had, given
the conditions when we initiated the
policy. So as things develop, there
might be some changes to the
policy, and relevant departments are
considering this."[1]
• China gives exemptions from "one
child" in special circumstances
• Modern Chinese people actually
prefer only one child Heda Bayron.
"Experts: China's One-Child
Population Policy Producing Socio-
second child.
• "One child" policy violates right
to reproduce and found family.
The one-child policy has been
criticized by human rights advocacy
groups and Western religious
advocacy groups who consider it
contrary to the human rights of
reproduction. Many governments,
including the United State
government, argue that the policy
violates a right to "found a family",
which is protected under the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
• China often forces abortions on
women, violating human rights
Chinese officials often force
abortions on women against their
will. This persists despite the fact
that it has been banned by China's
central government.
• China's forced sterilization is
cruel, violates rights Heda Bayron.
"Experts: China's One-Child
Population Policy Producing Socio-
Economic Problems". VOAnews. 7
Mar. 2006 - Four days after Mrs.
Yao gave birth in October, local
officials descended on the Yao
household in China's Fujian
province and dragged her and her
husband to a hospital. There, the
couple was forced to undergo
sterilization.
Mr. Yao, 31, is angry at the heavy-
handed action.
"My wife just had a 4 1/2 kilogram
baby four days earlier. It is wrong to
ask her to do another operation," he
said. "At least wait until six months

4. Economic Problems". VOAnews. 7
Mar. 2006 - "Surveys among young
urban Chinese show many prefer to
have only one child, because of the
cost of raising children and because
of their busy new lifestyles.
Younger Chinese appear to be
following the pattern set in Japan,
Singapore, and many other countries
around the world, the wealthier they
become, the fewer children they
want to have."
when she recovered. What they have
done was very cruel."
• China's "one child" policy violates
natural law Ye Tingfang, a
professor at the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences: "the one-child limit
is too extreme. It violates nature’s
law and, in the long run, will lead to
mother nature’s revenge."
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Population: Is the rule essential to controlling China's population size?
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Yes
• China's "one child" policy is key
to stabilizing global population
growth Global population growth is
considered by many to be a crisis.
With 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the
world's population, China must be a
major part of the solution to the
global population crisis. "One child"
is a pillar of this global solution.
• China would have far too many
children if not for "one child".
China estimates that it has three to
four hundred million fewer people
today with the one child policy than
it would have had otherwise.
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No
• "One child" is only partly
responsible for reducing China's
fertility rates Hasketh, Lu, and
Xing observed: "the policy itself is
probably only partially responsible
for the reduction in the total fertility
rate. The most dramatic decrease in
the rate actually occurred before the
policy was imposed. Between 1970
and 1979, the largely voluntary
"late, long, few" policy, which
called for later childbearing, greater
spacing between children, and fewer
children, had already resulted in a
halving of the total fertility rate,
from 5.9 to 2.9. After the one-child
policy was introduced, there was a

5. • Ending China's "one-child" policy
would cause a population spike
Joseph Chamie, former head of the
United Nations population division
and now head of the Center for
Migration Studies - "Today the
fertility level in China is around 1.7
children per woman. if China were
to relax its one-child policy, then it’s
reasonable to expect that fertility
would rise. How much? Well, if
fertility increased to replacement
level of 2.1 (an increase of just
under a half a child), which is not
unreasonable given desired family
size, the country’s annual number of
births would increase by nearly 30
percent, or approximately five
million additional births. By
midcentury, this would add up to
nearly a quarter-billion more
Chinese than currently projected by
the U.N. And given China’s impact
on the environment, especially
greenhouse gas emissions, this
change of policy clearly portends a
great deal."[2]
• One-child forestalls problems
associated with overpopulation.
The reduction in fertility rate and
thus population size reduced the
severity of problems that come with
overpopulation, like epidemics,
slums, overwhelmed social services
(health, education, law enforcement,
and more), and strain on the
ecosystem from abuse of fertile land
and production of high volumes of
waste.
• "One child" changed tradition
that more children is better The
symbolism of "one child" is very
important in ending the conventional
more gradual fall in the rate until
1995, and it has more or less
stabilized at approximately 1.7 since
then."
• "One child" is excessive,
alternatives for reducing fertility
rates exist.
• India has achieved population
sustainability without "one child".
As argued above, there are ways to
achieve population-size
sustainability without implementing
a "one child" policy. There are
alternative means. India is a good
example of this, having achieved
broadly similar declines in fertility
without state coercion or occasional
brutality.
• It doesn't appear to be working so
far. So far no major population
decreases have occured under the
"one child" policy. This policy
would need to take place for
hundreds of years to work, but that
would not be fair. It has shown
minor changes, but the
overpopulation problem in China
still hugely exists.

6. belief that more children is better.
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Gender: Does China's "one child" improve gender equality?
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Yes
• One-child policy improves health
services for women. It is reported
that the focus of China on
population control helps provide a
better health service for women and
a reduction in the risks of death and
injury associated with pregnancy. At
family planning offices, women
receive free contraception and pre-
natal classes. Help is provided for
pregnant women to closely monitor
their health. In various places in
China, the government rolled out a
‘Care for Girls’ programme, which
aims at eliminating cultural
discrimination against girls in rural
and underdeveloped areas through
subsidies and education.[3]
• "One child" liberates female
productivity, improves gender
equality Women have traditionally
been the primary caregivers for
children; however, with fewer
children, they have more time to
invest in their careers, increasing
both their personal earnings and the
national GDP. However, critics of
the policy have asserted that such a
gain may eventually be cancelled
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No
• "One child" policy fosters
preference for sons; causes
demographic shift. China, like
many other Asian countries, has a
long tradition of son preference.
Many argue that the one-child policy
induces many families to use
selective abortion, abandon female
infants, and even kill female infants
under the influence of the son
preference. Some families even kill
or starve the female infant and then
try again for a male child. The
commonly accepted explanation for
son preference is that sons in rural
families may be thought to be more
helpful in farm work. Both rural and
urban populations have economic
and traditional incentives, including
widespread remnants of
Confucianism, to prefer sons over
daughters. Sons are preferred as they
provide the primary financial
support for the parents in their
retirement, and a son's parents
typically are better cared for than his
wife's. In addition, Chinese
traditionally view that daughters, on
their marriage, become primarily

7. out by the increased burden of
caring for two elderly parents
singlehandedly.
part of the groom's family.
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Children: Is the one-child policy good for children?
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Yes
• "One child" policies improve
China for young generations. "One
child" policies improve China by
making its population size more
sustainable and by, subsequently,
improving the living standards of
Chinese citizens now and in the
future. This is certainly good for
young Chinese.
• It prevents sibling rivalry. A lot of
children have sibling rivalry with
their brothers or sisters. A lot of
children also hate their siblings or
are bullied by them. This policy
prevents that.
• Parents with one child will care
more for that child. If parents have
one child, they will look after them
and care for them more than if there
were three or four children. The
child would in most cases be loved
more and get more personal
attention.
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No
• China's "one child" policy creates
too many only childs "Report says
100 million Chinese have no
siblings". Associated Press. July 7th,
2008
• China's "one child" policy fosters
spoiled children. Some parents may
over-indulge their only-child. The
media referred to the indulged
children in one-child families as
"little emperors". Since the 1990s,
some people worry this will result in
a higher tendency toward poor social
communication and cooperation
skills among the new generation, as
they have no siblings at home.
However, no social studies have
investigated the ratio of these over-
indulged children and to what extent
they are indulged. With the first
generation of one-child policy
children (those born in the 1980s)
reaching adulthood, such worries are
reduced.

8. • China's "one child" policy causes
the abandonment of children
Damien McElroy and Olga Craig.
"Victims of China's one-child policy
find hope". Telegraph. 19 June 2001
- "FIVE young girls, found starving
and close to death amid the rubbish
tips of Beijing, have been given a
new life thanks to the love and
compassion of a poor couple in the
Chinese capital.
The girls were abandoned as babies -
victims of China's one-child policy
coupled with a traditional preference
for sons. Each had been dumped to
die by parents who either wanted
their only child to be a boy or did
not want the burden of a disfigured
or disabled infant."
• China's "one child" policy causes
"gendercide" According to The
Economist [4], at least 100 million
girls have disappeared in China.
They were either "aborted, killed, or
neglected to death"- and the number
is rising. "...[C]ouples want two
children—or, as in China, are
allowed only one—they will
sacrifice unborn daughters to their
pursuit of a son. That is why sex
ratios are most distorted in the
modern, open parts of China and
India."
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Support networks: Does the "one child" policy foster family support
networks?
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Yes
• The children will still have
families. Children born with no
brothers or sisters will still have a
family. They will have a mum and
dad, grandparents and possibly
aunts, uncles and cousins.
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No
• The "one child" policy
undermines family support
networks. As the one-child policy
begins to near its next generation,
one adult child is left with having to
provide support for his or her two
parents and four grandparents. This
leaves the older generation with
more of a dependency on retirement
funds or charity in order to have
support. If personal savings,
pensions, or state welfare should
fail, then the most senior citizens
would be left entirely dependent
upon their very small family or
neighbors for support. If a child can't
care for their parents and
grandparents, or if that child can't
survive, the oldest generation could
find itself destitute.
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Ending the policy: Would removing the laws undo all good done by the
"One Child" Policy?
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Yes
• Removing these laws would see a
lot more babies born at around
the same time. If the laws were
removed today, in about nine
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No

10. months time a flood of babies would
be born in China. People would
undo any good made by the laws
and use their right to start having as
many babies as possible.
• When people have back their
rights, they will use them. When
the laws are removed, the people of
China will start having lots of babies
- that's bound to happen and will
undo the help made to China's
overpopulation problems.
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Economics: Is the one child policy economically beneficial?
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Yes
• "One child" increases GDP per
capita, living standards China
simply cannot sustain a population
of 2 billion and provide the standard
of living that it desires.
• China's "one child" policy helps
eradicate poverty
• China's "one child" policy
increases individual savings. The
individual savings rate has increased
since the introduction of the One
Child Policy. This has been partially
attributed to the policy in two
respects. First, the average Chinese
household expends fewer resources,
both in terms of time and money, on
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No
• Fees for second child are
economically damaging. A U.S.
official named Dewey testified that
parents who bear a second child are
required to pay a "social
compensation fee", which ranges
from half of the local average annual
income to ten times that.
• China's one-child policy increases
crime "One-Child Policy, China
Crime Rise Linked by Study". New
York Sun. 19 Nov. 2007 -
"Communist China's one-child
policy is to blame for as much as
38% of the recent rapid rise in crime
in that country, a new research

11. children, which gives many Chinese
more money with which to invest.
Second, since young Chinese can no
longer rely on children to care for
them in their old age, there is an
impetus to save money for the
future.[27]
• "One child" policy maintains a
steady employment rate. With
overpopulation, it is common that a
population will see rising
unemployment rates.
report finds.
An associate professor of economics
at Columbia University, Lena
Edlund, has found that a 1%
increase in the ratio of males to
females equates to an increase in
violent and property crime of as
much as 6%, "suggesting that male
sex ratios may account for 28% to
38% of the rise in crime." Ms.
Edlund, who studied crime rates in
China between 1988 and 2004,
discussed her findings at a
conference earlier this month at New
York University."
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Environment: Is the "one child" policy good for the environment?
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Yes
• "One child" policy helps fight
against global warming "China
Says One-Child Policy Helps
Protect Climate". Reuters. 30
August 2007
In solving the pollution and the
environment, China advocates this
policy in helping reduce their carbon
dioxide output. The government
suggested that every human body
exhale too much carbon dioxide, and
cited statistics that reducing the
countries' population would greatly
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No

12. reduce carbon dioxide emissions
from human respiration.
• China's "one child" policy slows
the depletion of natural resources.
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Discrimination: Does China's "one child" policy avoid racism?
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Yes
• This policy is not exactly racist.
The "one child" possibly is not
racist, it is simply trying to control
China's extreme population.
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No
• China's "one child" policy is
inherently racist Paul Jalsevac.
"The inherent racism of population
control." LifeSiteNews.com
• China's "one child" policy causes
socioeconomic discrimination
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Chinese opinion: Where does the Chinese population stand on this issue?
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Yes
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No
• Protests have been widespread in
China against "one child" Dragan
Stankovic and John Chan. "Protests
in China over the one child policy".

13. [Edit]
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Pro/con resources
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Yes
• "China Says One-Child Policy
Helps Protect Climate". Reuters. 30
August 2007
• "Family Planning in China".
Information Office of the State
Council Of the People's Republic of
China. 1995
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No
• Brandon Keim. "China: The Wrong
Way to Do Population Control".
Wired. July 24, 2007
• "Report says 100 million Chinese
have no siblings". Associated Press.
7 July 2008
• Damien McElroy and Olga Craig.
"Victims of China's one-child policy
find hope". Telegraph. 19 June 2001
• Claudia Joseph. "Babies for sale:
The scandal of China's brutal single
child policy". 6 Oct. 2007
• Heda Bayron. "Experts: China's
One-Child Population Policy
Producing Socio-Economic
Problems". VOAnews. 7 Mar. 2006
• "Can China Afford to Continue Its
One-Child Policy?". East West
Center. Mar. 2005
• "Family Planning in China".
Information Office of the State
Council Of the People's Republic of
China. 28 Dec. 2004
• "China: Human rights violations and
coercion in one-child policy
enforcement". HEARING BEFORE
THE COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH
CONGRESS SECOND SESSION.

14. DECEMBER 14, 2004
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