[Fekliopas]

China is redoubling controversial efforts to control its population by limiting couples to one child.

The one-child policy was introduced to ensure that China, which has historically been prone to floods and famine, could feed all its people.

Government officials said the policy was a great success, preventing at least 250 million births since 1980.

An editorial in the Communist Party newspaper, The People's Daily, said: "We cannot just be content with the current success, we must make population control a permanent policy".

China's population is expected to increase from 1.26 billion at the end of last year to 1.6 billion in 2050.

Females killed

The 'one child' policy stipulates each couple living in the cities should only have one child, unless one or both of the couple are from an ethnic minority or they are both only children.

baby
Baby boom: But many couples get round the laws
In most rural areas, a couple may have a second child after a break of several years.

Critics of the policy maintain it has led in some case to the killing of female infants because of the traditional preference for boys.

The number of men is thought to outnumber women in China by more than 60 million.

Last week it was reported that Chinese police had detained three officials who caused the death of a baby in central China while enforcing the birth control rules.

But it is common to find couples in the countryside, where 80% of the population live, with a large number of children.

Forced abortions

Despite forced abortions and severe financial penalties, many couples still get around the law by sending the pregnant woman to stay with relatives until the baby is born or claiming the newborn baby was adopted or belongs to a friend or relative.

Backed by the punitive sanctions, the 'one child' policy has generally worked in the cities.

The China Youth Daily said the 'one child' had also allowed many children in the countryside to get a better education.

The price of school fees has risen rapidly in the countryside - representing around 27% of the total budget of an average family with just one child, and therefore acts as a strong deterrent to having more children.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/941511.stm I cannot help but compare the impact of China's one-child policy with countries like the Philippines where the population is increasing exponentially and the marginalized group having 6-10 children but couldn't afford to feed all of them or send them to school. If the Philippines had the same policy, would it be enjoying the same economic boom as China is apparently having?

I agree that third world countries should have some form of population control, and in our country contraception and family planning should be implemented by the government. Unfortunately, due to religious meddling and politics involved, this is not a successful project but our country desperately needs a means to control our population.

Although China's policy might be considered successful, but at what cost? Abortion is done left and right...infants are left to die on the streets...male infants are preferred over female infants. Is this the only resort they can have? The LAST resort?

[BartRonalds]

It's successful in as much as it has done what they intended for it to do. They wanted to control birthrates and have a more masculine society, and they have achieved both of those targets.

That being said, I am strongly opposed to any restrictions on children as long as you're able to support them, and believe that gender selection policies are awful.

If someone is financially within their means, they should certainly be allowed to have children. I think it would be far better to force people to emigrate if they have too many children than to force abortions on them, but that's likely just my own moral outrage from being a Roman Catholic.

[klnbgqr]

the source has to be quite old, china exceeded the 1.3 billion barieer long time ago

China even with a politic of restriction still faces lot of problems, i dont even want to mention the case of india where such policies would be hardly applicable and population is going to grow 500 millions by 2050

[Vzkdgdqx]

The facts remain that China's birthrate was lowered from ~6/woman to 1.7/woman and the population today is 300mil lower than it was projected to be from the 1960s. In 1971, China was one of the poorest countries in the world could not feed itself and today, there's no longer anyone without food or clothing. If there was no one-child-policy, China would not be able to feed its people with of the growing desertification of the north China, drying of water sources, and a overall shrinkage of arable lands. As a part of the one-child generation, I lean toward supporting the one-child-policy as a catalyzing force of economic progress in China. Also note that today there is effectively a 2 child policy all across rural China at the moment and only 40% are of population are still limited by the one-child policy.

The Chinese made the tough decision to traded gender balance and reproductive and other human rights for sweeping economic progress. Was it worth it? Maybe? But it came at a cost of a surplus of 40million men who will be without a wife and an increasing burden on the next generation to cover for the welfare of the aging older generation. But I think on the long run it was a decision that had to be made, those 300 million babies would not have lived in horrible condition of starvation and oppression if they had been born anyway.

[Aleenkagirlla]

The facts remain that China's birthrate was lowered from ~6/woman to 1.7/woman and the population today is 300mil lower than it was projected to be from the 1960s. In 1971, China was one of the poorest countries in the world could not feed itself and today, there's no longer anyone without food or clothing. If there was no one-child-policy, China would not be able to feed its people with of the growing desertification of the north China, drying of water sources, and a overall shrinkage of arable lands. As a part of the one-child generation, I lean toward supporting the one-child-policy as a catalyzing force of economic progress in China. Also note that today there is effective a 2 child policy all across rural China at the moment and only 40% are of population are still limited by the one-child policy.

The Chinese made the tough decision to traded reproductive and other human rights for sweeping economic progress. Was it worth it? Maybe? But it came at a cost of a surplus of 40million men who will be without a wife and an increasing burden on the next generation to cover for the welfare of the aging older generation. But I think on the long run it was a decision that had to be made.

I think you mistaked two things,in earlier 30 years of PRC,the government focus on heavy industy,in later 30 years,the government focus on the light industry.In 1971,China is not poor,but the issue is the heavy insutry can't supply usto eat and dress,so the people felt they are poor.But without the heavy industry,China even can't stand in the world.

[SingleMan]

I think you mistaked two things,in earlier 30 years of PRC,the government focus on heavy industy,in later 30 years,the government focus on the light industry.In 1971,China is not poor,but the issue is the heavy insutry can't supply usto eat and dress,so the people felt they are poor.But without the heavy industry,China even can't stand in the world.

Yeah but where did that heavy industry get us? we still can't even produce large cargo planes, large airliners, aircraft carriers, modern cars/trucks up to western standards, modern automotive engines, efficient turbofan engines/stealth technology for next generation fighter jets. Our steel industry is behind India's and we have to import subsystems for our military hardware from Russia/Israel and Ukraine. Basically when we were suppose to worry about feeding our people, we were developing nuclear weapons and building an army like North Korea today. Feeding people is more important to standing up to the world. I'm glad that now we're on the right track but I can't imagine what China would be like today if it had 300million more mouths to feed today under the same circumstances.

[tactWeiccaf]

The facts remain that China's birthrate was lowered from ~6/woman to 1.7/woman and the population today is 300mil lower than it was projected to be from the 1960s. In 1971, China was one of the poorest countries in the world could not feed itself and today, there's no longer anyone without food or clothing. If there was no one-child-policy, China would not be able to feed its people with of the growing desertification of the north China, drying of water sources, and a overall shrinkage of arable lands. As a part of the one-child generation, I lean toward supporting the one-child-policy as a catalyzing force of economic progress in China. Also note that today there is effectively a 2 child policy all across rural China at the moment and only 40% are of population are still limited by the one-child policy.

The Chinese made the tough decision to traded gender balance and reproductive and other human rights for sweeping economic progress. Was it worth it? Maybe? But it came at a cost of a surplus of 40million men who will be without a wife and an increasing burden on the next generation to cover for the welfare of the aging older generation. But I think on the long run it was a decision that had to be made, those 300 million babies would not have lived in horrible condition of starvation and oppression if they had been born anyway.

Well said. The youth in China today have a very difficult road ahead of them, and they have to pave it themselves.

[PemiaGefe]

Exactly...and do you know where they get their wives???

Let me tell you, China will be one country with a top mail order bride business.

[bestonline]

Dsong2006 you are not a fvcking chinese stop calling ours ours ours ours

---------- Post added 2010-11-08 at 08:08 ----------

The Chinese made the tough decision to traded gender balance and reproductive and other human rights for sweeping economic progress. Was it worth it? Maybe? But it came at a cost of a surplus of 40million men who will be without a wife and an increasing burden on the next generation to cover for the welfare of the aging older generation. But I think on the long run it was a decision that had to be made, those 300 million babies would not have lived in horrible condition of starvation and oppression if they had been born anyway. There is NOT a single surplus man in china even thought western monkey masters love to formulate so called failure of human right.
Take care of your good-old backhole India first before pointing your ass-wiping finger at us.

Dsong2006 is a surplus person as a chinese does not mean all chinese are like the man. The projection of western colonial mentality
is the worst kind of surplus the Universe ever managed to fart, to excrete. Mr Dsong2006 is the one who loves faeces. We do not need
spurious cares, concerns, leave them to your mom and dad. We will take care of our own. There is NOT a single surplus
chinese IN China.

[Cnbaapuy]

Dsong2006 you are not a fvcking chinese stop calling ours ours ours ours

---------- Post added 2010-11-08 at 08:08 ----------



There is NOT a single surplus man in china even thought western monkey masters love to formulate so called failure of human right.
Take care of your good-old backhole India first before pointing your ass-wiping finger at us.

Dsong2006 is a surplus person as a chinese does not mean all chinese are like the man. The projection of western colonial mentality
is the worst kind of surplus the Universe ever managed to fart, to excrete. Mr Dsong2006 is the one who loves faeces. We do not need
spurious cares, concerns, leave them to your mom and dad. We will take care of our own. There is NOT a single surplus
chinese IN China.

Here is a CHINA DAILY (zhongguo ribao) article addressing the problem of gender imbalances...

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english...ent_333951.htm

[N1bNXuDb]

Given the rapid growth that China has experienced in the last 30 years it probably would've been able to feed/cloth those 300 million people. I personally don't think there would've been mass starvation or anything of the sort. The problem is not people; it's bad/corrupt institutions, dictatorial governments, archaic cultural practices, etc...China should do away with the one-child policy, esp. now that it has found the formula for rapid growth.

[Gastonleruanich]

Given the rapid growth that China has experienced in the last 30 years it probably would've been able to feed/cloth those 300 million people. I personally don't think there would've been mass starvation or anything of the sort. The problem is not people; it's bad/corrupt institutions, dictatorial governments, archaic cultural practices, etc...China should do away with the one-child policy, esp. now that it has found the formula for rapid growth.

I disagree. Much of Northern China is drying up and water is already becoming scarce with the current population. The amount of arable land in China barely feeds the entire population even now. The reason why China was able to get ahead of the rest of the third world was because it curbed its birthrate. More people=more social/economic/political complications, regional conflicts will become even more widespread and instability will permeate from the bottom to the top. Did you know that there were 90,000 riots/civil disturbances in China in the last 4 years? That number will be much higher with 300mil more people. Without the one-child-policy, China's development will slow to a snail's pace regardless of the type of government and its institutions.

[TagBahthuff]

Here is a CHINA DAILY (zhongguo ribao) article addressing the problem of gender imbalances...

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english...ent_333951.htm

Why the west love to montage our future crisis?

1-Bc They think we are retarded

2-Bc They think they always do better than us

3-Bc They think they are needed anywhere

4-Bc They simply love to see you fail

5-Bc They are trying to make you fail

6-Bc They will always be trying to make you fail

7-Bc They will only success after you failed

8-Bc They will always shyt on your ears, mouth after you failed

9-Bc They are trying to shyt on your ears, mouth even you are trying not to fail.

Why We Will Not Fail?

1-We are not retarded:

(We are not going to suck on earth for food, sticking around the current 9 million kmq land forever.)

2-We are not any worse than them, and we will surpass them in technology and ideology, and creat a better world subversive to their hypocritical values, based on ideals and mean of sustenance beyond monkeys comprehension.

3-We need our own people before we need anyone else, we need them here as much as they need us.

4-We are not a nation of circus monkeys

5-We are not circus monkeys to be fooled, led, abused

6-We will never be as lowly as circus monkeys to be fooled

7-We are not dependent on others failure

8-We are dignified humans

9-We will always be ourself, dignified, wise, powerful, creative so much more than
circus monkeys and their masters can understand.


Beyond the 9 points of arguments, there is no need to contemplate on this matter.We can do whatever is necessary to feed, protect our
life and honor, even colonizing the Solar System, exterminate all aliens. Sheer numbers of our people do not explain the matter of being
too many or too scarce. We are 10000 trillion years before East Indians, the apes and monkeys love to flatter their own filthy arse hole
by equating us with them.

Even all the surplus males turn homosexual, warriors, suicidal, they are and will always be our own problems only to be solved by our
own proper cares. No-One else can be qualified more than our own people to worry about ourself.

[offinoNem]

Why the west love to montage our future crisis?

1-Bc They think we are retarded

2-Bc They think they always do better than us

3-Bc They think they are needed anywhere

4-Bc They simply love to see you fail

5-Bc They are trying to make you fail

6-Bc They will always be trying to make you fail

7-Bc They will only success after you failed

8-Bc They will always shyt on your ears, mouth after you failed

9-Bc They are trying to shyt on your ears, mouth even you are trying not to fail.

Why We Will Not Fail?

1-We are not retarded:

(We are not going to suck on earth for food, sticking around the current 9 million kmq land forever.)

2-We are not any worse than them, and we will surpass them in technology and ideology, and creat a better world subversive to their hypocritical values, based on ideals and mean of sustenance beyond monkeys comprehension.

3-We need our own people before we need anyone else, we need them here as much as they need us.

4-We are not a nation of circus monkeys

5-We are circus monkeys to be fooled, led, abused

6-We will never be as lowly as circus monkeys to be fooled

7-We are not dependent on others failure

8-We are dignified humans

9-We will always be ourself, dignified, wise, powerful, creative so much more than
circus monkeys and their masters can understand.


Beyond the 9 points of arguments, there is no need to contemplate on this matter.
We can do whatever is necessary to feed, protect our life and honor, even colonizing the Solar System, exterminate all aliens. Sheer numbers of our people
do not explain the matter of being too many or too scarce. We are 10000 trillion years before East Indians, the apes and monkeys love to flatter their own filthy arse hole by equating us with them.

Even all the surplus males turn homosexual, warriors, suicidal, they are and will always be our own problems only to be solved by our own proper cares. No-One else can be qualified more than our own people to worry about ourself.

Go worry about Vietnam's problems...yall have more serious problems than China you self hating Viet. Now stop ranting and go back to your sweatshop and make me an IPhone.

[Gerribase]

That Mahasapeanut guy seems crazy.

Anyway, this is a serious issue for China, something to worry about, and it's not because the west is trying to undermine China, but countries often asses how other countries are doing for political, social, economical analysis and research etc. I'm sure there were millions of pieces in Chinese newspapers about the 2008 'Western (or global) recession' and other Western issues even when they didn't concern the Chinese.

But also, China is fast becoming a very influential country and so it matters to the world what happens in China. There is no malice involved and the only reason you would think that is because you can't stand genuine criticism for whatever reason.

[Tam04xa]

That Mahasapeanut guy seems crazy.

You would be too if you were a member of the second largest ethnic group in China... and the guy you're arguing with belongs to the largest ethnic group in China... but he's not actually in China, because his parents moved to the United States.

There are 1.2 billion Han in China, versus a few million Zhuang.

He's got identity issues of his own as a minority, and he projects his insecurity by attacking Dsong. It must be quite liberating to tell a Han that he is scum and not Chinese.

[Vmysobfi]

Go worry about Vietnam's problems...yall have more serious problems than China you self hating Viet. Now stop ranting and go back to your sweatshop and make me an IPhone.

We do have our own sweatshops, but mind your own sweatshop in Chinatown instead. I never asked for your concern.


Thanks.

[CenICrerflind]

I disagree. Much of Northern China is drying up and water is already becoming scarce with the current population. The amount of arable land in China barely feeds the entire population even now. The reason why China was able to get ahead of the rest of the third world was because it curbed its birthrate. More people=more social/economic/political complications, regional conflicts will become even more widespread and instability will permeate from the bottom to the top. Did you know that there were 90,000 riots/civil disturbances in China in the last 4 years? That number will be much higher with 300mil more people. Without the one-child-policy, China's development will slow to a snail's pace regardless of the type of government and its institutions.

I agree that the environmental problems are pretty serious but many countries today import much of their food from abroad; that's one of the great things about globalization. They don't have to control their population just because they don't have enough arable land. I don't think China got ahead because it curbed its birthrate; it had much more to do with the economic reforms that took place after Mao's death. Those riots/disturbances are the result of government repression and corruption; the solution to that problem is not reducing the population but reforming government institutions to make them less corrupt and oppressive.

[Muhabsssa]

Since when did the Vietnamese speak on behalf of Chinese??

If Chinese population continues to grow on a 1-child policy then it obviously is a failure.

[Rffkwfct]

India will surpass China in terms of population that says it all. And Obamas visit there