China's One Child Policy

[Shane]

What are your thoughts on China's One Child Policy that has been going since the mid-70s?

For thos of you who don't know about it for some reason or another, China's One Child Policy is in effect throughout China and means that each couple is only allowed to have one child. If a couple get pregnant again then they must have the unborn child aborted. This policy was created due to China being over-populated and running low on resources.

I know that this is a measure put in place to assure the countries population does not grow so they have enough room and resources to sustain but I still see it as a little drastic, even cruel.

I heard about one case where a woman was 8 months pregnant with her seconds child and the government found out about it and they poisoned the unborn child to essentially kill it.

It has been known for families expecting a boy to kill their child if it is a girl because in China the males are expected to make more. They kill their child because they are only allowed one and its not the one they want. Because of this the population of men in China has risen in comparision to women.

Surely there has to be another way to work around all of this?!

[Mattimadhead]

Yeah very complex matter, The one child policy would work if china wasnt such a poorly run country with a corrupt government. And the homes for children that have been set up as a result are terrible and treat babys worse than animals..

[NATAL!E]

We studied this in geography, and damn. I was appauled.

I think the one child policy is a pretty.. brash decision for the Chinese government to have made.

As it stands, there is currently an over population of men to women on a ratio. And it's just getting worse.

For a fact, the government try to hide the evidence of child cruelty. And try to present to the rest of the world there isn't any problems, and the policy works fine. But everyone knows otherwise.

I've seen some footage of the state these children's homes are in. It's an utter disgrace. To think they're bringing babies up like that. Starving them. Abusing them. it's awful.

Really. If they can do things like that to little babies and children. Them people shouldn't be able to live. In my opinion. ¬_¬

[Sponge'K'nob]

thats horrible......
i hate being an only child anyway!!
im having 3 kids.....looks like im never moving to china!!

[Riccardo]

I know its aweful and everything but there merely doing the best they can with the mass population and means that they have, if you don't like it, you could always make some kind of donation or if you can't afford it, do some kind of collection for it instead.

i know this won't change the 1 child rule, but it would help the treatment of the many orphans

[Shane]

I am looking to start some sort of TF Fund to help childeren soemwhere, Money from the tshirt and premium membership sales will go towards this. Anyideas on it, post a thread in the suggestions forum.

[*Jess*]

I think it is appauling, but I don't know. In some ways I agree with it.
It should be made illegal to have another child, and they get some sort of punishment, but they should not kill the child. China is very overpopulated and well, in some ways, if they want to have another child then they should move somewhere else. Because otherwise, unless they have a problem and think another child will solve it, it is just... selfish. But they shouldn't kill the children, I do NOT agree with the killing.

[Patriot1776]

It may have changed but I believe that their "punishment" is a tax increase.

So its not that you're not allowed, you are just highly discouraged unless you can provide the money to support one more citizen.

[NATAL!E]

Well, I've heard of women who have been forced to be sterilised, pregnancies aborted and such likes. So even if it is supposed to be a tax incrase as a punishment, there is a lot of unlawful backstreet abortions and such going on.

There's some incredibly famous stories of children and babies who have been abused and killed - Mai Ming, or something simelar, was one of the most famous. A little baby, left in a room on her own to die. She had all sorts of infections, gangrene etc, she was being starved to death and allsorts.

It's disgusing. It really is.

But not only that. It's horrifically upsetting aswell. Some of those people must be heartless =[.

I mean.

You tell me this is lawful.

http://morpheus.cc/myworld/issues/meiming.html

[Richiecroft]

I know this is gona sound silly, but, its like Britain coming up with the Homeless Policy! A homeless person caught sitting out in the street must be killed or mentally abused or some madness like that, ridiculous!

But, i think this is so mean. How can they treat children like, i have a niece aged 10mnths and she is the sweetest thing i know, there is no way i could do this to her! i'll rather kill myself than have my own child killed!

[Mattimadhead]

I know this is gona sound silly, but, its like Britain coming up with the Homeless Policy! A homeless person caught sitting out in the street must be killed or mentally abused or some madness like that, ridiculous!

youre right that did sound rather silly i mean i dont know abou tyou or where u live but we dont go round killing homeless people and where i live is a shit heap in parts...

[Richiecroft]

I know sorry if sounded horrid, i didn't know how some people would have taken it. I just wanted to give an example thats all..Sorry :)

[.:0NE_l0VE.:]

I don't think that law applies anymore.
My mom recently travelled there with my cousin (even though no one in my family is Chinese) for buisness matters.
Anyway, a guy they worked with was Chinese, lives there and has 2 kids.
So, I guess it depends on your financial situation.

[God.]

Family plan laws updated
2004-01-19 Shanghai Daily
Rules better protect couples' privacy
A new family planning regulation will allow local couples to apply to have a second child without getting approval from their employers or neighborhood committees, city health officials announced yesterday.The new Population and Family Planning Regulation will go into effect on April 15. While most couples in the city are only allowed to have one child, some, such as both husband and wife come from a single-child family, are allowed to have a second child after receiving permission from their district government. Currently, couples must provide a letter from their employers certifying they only have one child. If both husband and wife are unemployed they must provide a letter from their neighborhood committee. ( ) Anyone who deliberately gives false information while applying to have a second child will be seriously punished, said Xie Lingli, director of the population commission.He said punishments still haven't been worked out, but will likely involve a fine, and the city could pass on information to local credit rating services, making it tough for the offenders to get a bank loan.
The new regulation will also spare companies any punishment if one of their employees breaks the one-child policy. Currently, companies can't be named a model unit if their employees break the rule - a punishment that reflects poorly on a company's managers.The new rule will, however, allow couples who break the one-child policy to receive a 50 percent reimbursement from the city's social security fund on medical bills related to the pregnancy and delivery. Previously, those couples had to pay all medical bills by themselves. The new rule also erases the mandatory four-year waiting period between the first and second child to avoid a baby boom, which is expected to fall since 2006.

Quoted from some website.

[NATAL!E]

All policies come to an end, and I wrote a massive essay on this a few months ago, and got an A on it. =P. Hehe.

But basically, even though this law enforced is horrific, it's working to reduce the population. All policies are downsides and upsides, and the downsides of this one are much more horrific than other policies. But on a general note, the policy is doing it's job.

But there's speculation along with this, because the One Child Policy has taken China from Stage 2 to Stage 4 on the Demographic Transition Model, which means soon, the country could face an ageing population - Much like the UK. And once that begins, it leads to a downfall in the overall population.

[Lindsay]

i don't think its quite as severe anymore. I think that the way it works now is that the frist child a couple has gets all the government benefirs (ie: healthcare, dental, school etc) but if they coupld has a second baby that they have to pay for all that themselves.
In a way, i guess its not a bad idea. There are a lot of children in China, especially baby girls, that don't have homes so maybe it is to promote adoption?

[Artemis]

I think that the overall problem is the population.
I mean, if you 'took away' the one child policy then the population would increase drastically probably killing many more in the long run.
I absolutely hate the policy and the child-killing but the policy isn't the only obstacle.

About that decrease in populatn Fender, that is assumably gradual, no?

[NATAL!E]

It's not as gradual as you think.

There's now a lack of baby girls, so as they grow up, say in the next 20-40 years, there'll be an overpopulation of men, and not enough women to reproduce so there is a balance. Women aren't going to be having about 20 children each to bring up the population, because as the country develops into an MEDC, the mental standards change, and women focus more on work and independant lives.

So therefore, this generation, from the introduction of the policy, will be unblalanced, causing a large knock-on effect, meaning there'll be less and less children. So basically, the population is just going to decrease as these people grow older, and the current generations die.

[Morazain]

If they don't get this male and female descrimination out of their heads they are going to learn the hard way why you need women as much as you men.

I look forward to the day when china does have that revolution because if that policy doesn't work I'd rather have china have a revolution or them declaring war and sending off troops just to get slaughtered.
I guess they could shove all the spare men in the military and make them never see women what happens in the showers I wou;dn't want to know:sadangel:

[Lindsay]

If they don't get this male and female descrimination out of their heads they are going to learn the hard way why you need women as much as you men.

haha yeah. "we want wives, but not baby girls.."

[gprime]

Taking a somewhat americentric view on the matter, I for one am glad such a policy exists. Regardless of the debatable barbarism entailed, it does help to stave growth from an already massively populated nation readying to shift the global economic, military, and political forces as we know them. Ultimately, it is self-destructive policies such as their reproductive limitation laws that when coupled with other factors, such as the forthcoming New Deal inspired reformations, the influx of newer technologies which are helping to educate the youth about the problems of China and its government, the increase in Japanese and Taiwanese military might, the pending collapse of the DPRK, and the instability inherent in their pseudo-communist governmental structure that will serve to, if coupled with sound fiscal and military reforms by Western powers, will help to prevent the global dominance of the Chinese. So while the policy may seem awful, its consequences are inherently positive for those of us in the West.

[Morons]

It blows my mind that you people can't see the bigger picture.

If their population continued growing as fast as it was, they would become so overpopulated that the living coniditions there would be even worse. They would have to spread to other countries. A mass movement of Chinese will be rejected by most countries which would leave China with only one choice, to take the land they need by force. This could spark a third world war.

So what it comes down to is:

Not having another child or World War 3?