One Child Policy in China

Summary
The Old Days
  • The One Child Policy comes from a Communist leader in 1978 by the name of Deng Xiaoping.
  • The policy is created because China has gotten to the point that it cannot feed itself any longer.
  • To enforce the policy, the government requires each family to sign a certificate as well as pledge to only have one child.
  • The individuals who volunteer to sign the policy will be provided with benefits by the government such as health care and food.
  • On the other hand, the people who are unwilling to cooperate will find themselves penalized by higher taxes or their employer will use this policy to hold back the employee bonus as well.
  • To ensure bribery does not take place in the country, the government enlists the elderly people around the neighborhood as spies. Their job is to provide everybody's information in their neighborhood to the government.
  • One child policy affects the rural areas of China the most, because the majority of farmers need boys to help them. This leads women to consider an abortion every time they have a girl.
  • This policy also affects the male-female ratio. In 2004, according to MSNBC, there are 120 males to every 100 females.
Todays
  • The One Child Policy does not get enforced as much as before.
  • The government also gives out some exceptions to have two children:
  • 1st, if the first child is handicapped, the family can have a second baby.
  • 2nd, rural areas and minorities are able to have two children,
  • 3rd, the victims in the Sichuan earthquake are able to have two children.
  • The government also provides help to families by opening adoption center across the country for those who cannot take care of their children.

I have lived in America half of my life. The number 1 is associated with a lot of the things that I know and love such as being single, or the one dollar menu at McDonald. However, in China, the number one can have a much more serious meaning such as the One Child Policy.

In this article, I will not talk about the criticism of the One Child Policy, which I have already extensively covered in the article about family. Instead, I will tell you about the historical point of view and how it has evolved until today. Let's start talking about the old days.

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