One Child Policy in China: Can be Good or Bad - Research (Essay Sample)

One child policy in China
Name
Institution
One child policy in China
Introduction
The one child policy was a population control policy introduced in China in late 1978, and became operational after its implementation on September 18, 1980. The main aim of this policy was to control the swelling population and reduce the demand for consumable resources within the country such as food, water, and other resources (Nielsen, 2008). It was also intended to relieve the country from its increasing social, economic and environmental problems as a result of the already large population. The policy enforced by levying fines at the provincial level depending on the income of the family and other financial factors. The awareness was raised by the population and family planning commission that was at every level of the government administration to carry out registration and inspect the general work of population demography (Child, 2013).
Since its enactment, the demographic are not very clear on how much reduction in population happened. The Chinese government through its Ministry of Devolution and Planning reports that more than 400 million births have been prevented due to the enactment of the policy, though the validity of this report is raising doubts amongst most nations and the citizens. There is a general claim from demographers that even without the policy the Chinese population would have gone down. The draconian policy left the country citizens with emotional scars, social and economic. This rule began to decline formally since from 2007 the ethnic minorities exempted from the policy. About 53% were allowed to have a second child, and only 36% of the total China's population was subject to the rule. People were allowed to have the second child if the first-born was a girl (Nielsen, 2008).
A survey that was conducted later in 2008 after the rule started declining slowly from 2007 suggested that the rule got opposed by human rights activists, 76% of the Chinese population supported it. The human rights accused the Chinese government of abusing human right and consequently bringing negative social relation.
On 29 October 2015, China’s communist party was reported to change the existing law to a two-child policy. This new rule would, however, take effects after it has been ratified in the annual session of the National People Congress early in 2016 (Child, 2013).
Why was the one child policy created in China?
China has the world largest population of about 1.4 billion people, and this policy was introduced to curb the then surging population and reduce the demand for resources. The policy only applied to a section of the majority group of the China’s population, the Han. Ethnic minorities were allowed more than one child and five years after its enactment even the rural couples were allowed to have two children if their first children were girls (Nielsen, 2008).
Enforcement of the rule
The Chinese government used a variety of incentives to force citizens indirectly to abide the law. Those who did not comply were coerced and punished and even get fined for not doing what everybody else was required to do. Even before the introduction of one child rule the Chinese government was trying to force people to delay getting married until the age of between 27 and 28 for men and at least 25 for women, and another similar rule for people in the rural, though they had two years less for their delays (Child, 2013).
It is probably because of this policy that China has more men than women, about 36 million more men than women in the total countries population, an imbalance that has worried the government until it decides to loosen the regulations (Greenhalgh, 2008)
To ensure the policy was well in operation, the government only issued one child certificate that was entitling them to better health care, better living standards, longer maternity leave and other benefits. Couples living in the urban centers found it more difficult when they contravened with the policy; their salaries were reduced by about fifteen percent until the child is old enough. In the rural, the government is not very strict though the corrupt official from the government grabs the properties of couples who have had many children and could not give them better living standards (Nielsen, 2008).
The Chinese government also hired more than one million part-time and full-time professionals to ensure the family planning techniques are run appropriately and also harass the citizens which in turn discourages them from giving birth or having more children. Some women were even forced to get abortions or get sterilized if they get pregnant with a subsequent child. Women giving birth were also denied anesthetic to increase their aversion to getting pregnant in a subsequent and continuous manner (Cai, 2012).
Women had to choose between having the second child or the husband’s job. Though, it later got enacted in 1984 when couples were allowed to have two kids if one of the parents was the only child and the rural couples allowed having at most two children (Greenhalgh, 2008)
Has it worked?
During the introduction of the policy in 1979, China's population was less than one billion and in the next successive year, a population projection of about 1.2 billion was recorded. The main aim of the rule was targeting a zero population growth, but in reality, the country reached the number of 1.2 billion seven years earlier, and the population now stands at 1.4 billion and still growing at an alarming rate (Child, 2013). However, the government estimates that the one child policy has not permitted the birth of 400 million and has also helped in lifting poor families out of the poverty line by easing the strain on the country’s limited natu...