One Child Policy in ChinaBy: Michelle Ho

Introduction

• The one child policy in China was to ensure that the big population of China would decrease

• Families are allowed to only have 1 child if the first one is a boy and 2 if the first one’s a girl

• It caused a lot of abortions among female infants

• The one-child policy made an unequal amount of males to females

History of the One Child Policy

• There were 250 million additional people living in the country by 1970

• Mao Zedong let people have as much babies as they want because like he said, “Of all things in the world, people are the most precious

• China had lots of floods and famines and most families didn’t have enough to get feed

• China was the world’s 4th largest country• The One Child Policy was introduced by Deng

Xiaoping in 1979• The goal of it was to keep the population below

1.3 billion by the year 2000• By the mid-eighties, increase of birth control

surgeries, abortions, sterilizations, and IUD injections were growing more than thirty million a year

• Baby boys are more important than baby girls because the baby boy keep the family’s last name, pass family heirlooms onto their sons, and take care of elders

Political conflict

• A couple may have a second child after a gap of several years after their first child

• The government improved the health care of women and children, educated people, and provided birth controls for free

• The price of school fees has increased in the country

• Researchers estimated that there are 111 males for every 100 females for marriages making generations harder to reproduce

• The current fertility rate is between 1.7 and 1.8 births per woman

• During the 1970’s, China began encouraging later marriages, longer gaps between births, and fewer children

• The elderly population is also increasing because of the working-age population which isn’t expected to decrease until 2015

• Urban parents were allowed to have 2 kids if both of the parents are an only child but, rural parents can only have one kid unless the first is a girl

Economical Conflict

• A second child brings at least a $3,500 fine• A $3,500 fine is equal to 2 decades of income in

China• During the 1970’s, China began encouraging later

marriages, longer gaps between births, and fewer children

• It was estimated that the population growth will be reduced from 1.3 billion to 300 million people over the first 20 years

• Middlemen earned about $30 for buying a child• $30 could be used for building houses and

buying tractors for villages• Government officials said they prevented 400

million births since the one child policy started• Some families just wanted to have one child

because of the pressure of getting an education and needs for the child and managing money

• Couples in the country side could live with a large number of children

Abandoned/Living Children

• Babies are abandoned in public places such as crowded streets, railroads, and in front of public buildings so they can be more visible

• Handicapped babies are also abandoned because most parents don’t have the money to cover for additional needs

• Many children lived with no siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins

• The “4-2-1” problem” is when one adult is left to care for his or her parents and 4 grandparents

• With just one adult to take care of elders, most older people rely on more retirement benefits and if personal savings fail and the adult child can’t take care of them, they would have no help

• Some people worry that the children wouldn’t have a lot of communication skills because they have no siblings in their household

• Some people also think it’s not good for children to only play with their parents

• Since there are no other siblings in the household, their parents’ are most likely to spoil them

Current Status of One Child Policy

• An earthquake hit China killing an estimated amount of 10,000 children but because of the one-child policy, families lost only one child

• Shanghai tries to end the one child by being allowed to have 2 children

• The officials were afraid that there wouldn’t be enough of the younger generation to take care of the older generation

• Both parents worked full time with long hours. Shopping and cooking was part of their daily routine

• Rural families had a more difficult life because peasants who had limited savings and very few pensions need children to support them in their elderly age

• Employment, housing, education, and other benefits have been reduced recently

Forced Abortions

• Abortions are shocking to families because the laws were more relaxing for many families having 2 children.

• Many couples believed that they could pay a fine to keep their second baby

• Even if the parents don’t want to have an abortion, it was the officials’ choice

• About 500 Chinese women commit suicide each day because of the pressures of the one-child policy

• Many parents want a son to take care of them in their early age because their daughter moves out, so most of the abortions were among females

• Some injections of abortions can kill women• If a couple have an illegal pregnancy, it must

be canceled

Fines from not following One Child Policy

• People who disobey birth control laws got fined $370

• Some rich families want more than 1 or 2 children and won’t mind paying off fines

• If the fine isn’t paid, the couples land is taken away, their houses get destroyed, they get fired from jobs, or their children can’t attend school

• Some would also have to pay their fines with 200 kilograms of rice

• Families in the city Guangzi are afraid of breaking the rules because they are poor and they would have a hard time paying fines

Undocumented Children

• Extra children born to their parents that reached the one child policy aren’t allowed to get a birth certificate or proper documentation which effects them a lot because they can’t go to school or do anything legally

• Some parents that are in political or religious activities will still be punished for denying birth certificates or documentation even if they only have one child

• A lot of parents with more than 2 children don’t register with the government because it only brings more trouble

• “Black Permit” children are children that are born and raised in secret and was shuffled along relatives and grandparents so they won’t be found that easily

• There are an estimated amount of 6 million undocumented children in China

Avoiding the One Child Policy

• Migrants to the city are more likely to break the policy than urban residents

• To get more children legally, parents give birth abroad, pretend their children is handicapped, or get divorced and remarried

• Parents sometimes lie that their second child is a twin to their first child

• By the mid-2000’s many children were born avoiding the rules and only 1 in 5 was an only child

Children from Orphanages

• Some children who are in orphanages were took away by family planning officials and orphanages would sell the children to adopting parents. Most from the United States.

• Money from orphanages were used for food, clothing, and medicine and foster parents usually get $30 a month

• Family officials don’t have the right to kidnap babies but some of them trick illiterate parents to sign forms for orphanages

• The village of Tianxi have officials that would most likely take babies away because they usually hear for evidence of babies. Like crying or diapers on cloth lines

People Allowed to Have Additional Children in China

• In the cities of Guangdong and Hainan, rural couples could have 2 children and it doesn’t matter which gender came first

• Urban couples are satisfied with one child families and are restricted to just 1 child

• Parents who have a child handicapped are allowed to have another child

Changes about One Child Policy

• There was a rumor in the mid 1980’s that the government was going to change the policy because they birthrate was increasing

• By the late 1990’s most aspects of the one child policy were ended. Second children were longer banned from hospitals and schools

• In the early 2000’s forced abortions and sterilizations were banned

• Parents get financial awards for having one child

• In May 2007, protesters protest for having heavy fines on extra children. Buildings and cars were burned down and, fought police with guns

Conclusion

• My reaction to the one child policy is that they shouldn’t make it so strict at first. Couples should get to choose whether or not they want the baby and they shouldn’t get forced abortions. The government should also allow couples to have more female babies because there is an uneven amount of males to females. I don’t blame the people who are willing to lie so they could keep the baby because it’s their baby and they should keep it if they could raise it. I also like the recent laws made because it valued peoples’ opinions.