One Child Policy

At the beginning of 1980s, China decided to restrict its population growth in order to stabilise food and water supplies and improve individual prosperity. In September 1980, an open letter to the country was issued by the Communist party calling for 'one child per couple' rules to keep the population below 1.2 billion at the end of the 20th century. 

Before this CID lesson, I still was not so clear about the 'one child policy', but after the lesson, it actually piqued my interest and I decided to do some research. It was just as our teacher had said, women are indeed regularly inspected to check if they are pregnant, even well into their 40s and 50s. Those who are found in breach can suffer forced abortions and even sterilisations. However, in millions of cases, families have been successful in hiding new children. This can be seen by the statistics from the 1990 census which recorded 23 million births but the 2000 census put the number of ten year olds a 26 million, suggesting at least 3 million babies had escaped thee notice of family planning officials. Simply put, during that time, while the one child policy was definitely effective, there were still people who managed to give birht to more than one child without being arrested. Not only that, those who are caught can also opt to pay a 'social upbringing fee', usually a multiple of the average income in the city where the child is born, designed to cover the cost of education and healthcare. 

I understand that it is not easy for China to make such an important decision but I do not entirely agree that such an action should be taken if they would like to stabilise people's lives as well as improve individual prosperity. Fortunately, China have started to change their mindset and concept and have started loosening the rule of the one child policy. 

It is said that by 2030, a quarter of China's population will be over 60. That is in fact a pretty big portion of the population. If the one child policy continues, there will be a lot of pressure on their children in the future because they have to take care of a lot more people and a lot more effort has to be put in to support the family when compared to having more than one child taking care of the family together. I do think the pressure and stress will eventually lead to the child finding their family a burden, sad to say, and may find it a drag to even continue his life because he will be restricted to doing very little things in his life. He has to dedicate a lot of his time trying to support his family and caring for his family because he is the only child and life may be difficult, especially if most of his family are retired and he is the sole breadwinner. I find that having more than one sibling is definitely a bliss, because then I am not so lonely and I can find company easier. That way, when we grow up, we can each lend a helping hand and support those who need our help together, rather than supporting a whole family by ourselves. The pressure put on us is definitely divided, so that we do not live under all that pressure. I still think it is better to have siblings rather than having to worry about supporting the family financially and emotionally all on my own. Things would definitely be worse if there is a financial crisis and I am the sole breadwinner in the family.