Cause and Effect of China one-child policy

China one-child policy was implemented during the period 1979 to 2016 by reason of the
exponential growth of population over the later half of the 20s century. It strictly applied to Han
Chinese family which accounts for 91% of Chinese population could only have one child. In 1993,
China achieved zero population growth due to one-child policy. (Rosenberg, 2018). However, one-
child policy also brought negative impacts on society. This essay will discuss causes and effects of
China one-child policy.
After the World War II, China was very poor, basic education and medical level were still
backward. Condoms have not been widely accepted by public. The absence of sex education in
schools has lead to many child marriages occurred. (Stritof, 2017). Besides, traditional Chinese family
believed having as many children as they can so they can rely on them at their old age. (Upton-
Mclaughlin, 2013). Therefore, in 1950s and 1960s, Cultural Revolution in China, there was a rapid
increase of new birthrates during the 10 years. (Hesketh et al., 2005). After that, to reform and opening
up and develop the economy, Chinese government saw it is essential to control the population rise.
Hence, in 1979, leader Xiaoping Deng promulgated the one-child policy to lighten the social and
national burden because of the large amount of population. (Schmitz, 2018).
One-child policy not only decreased fertility rate but also increased the number of abandoned
female newborns and female fetus abortions rates. Traditional Chinese people prefer boys to girls.
There were approximately 33 million men over women in 2016 which demonstrated the imbalance
of sex ratio compared with global average. (Rosenberg, 2018). Many family choose to have gender
selective abortions or abandant the female newborns to orphanage as a result of China one-child
policy. American family adopted over 70000 Chinese children from 1999 to 2013 and around 90%
of those were female. (“Does China have an aging problem?,”, n.d.).
After one-child policy was imposed, birth rates have fallen steadily. On the contrary, there
was a growing trend of ageing population since the beginning of 1979. (Keyong, 2018). The
proportion of people over 65 years old starting at 5% in 1982 and predicted increasing to over 15%
in 2025, which means more and more elderly people need to be supported by their children. With the
affection of Confucianism, Chinese people believe “hundred goods filial first”. Offspring have
obligations to sustain their parents through old age. (Ph.D., Li Lu, M.D., and Zhu Wei Xing, M.P.H.,
2005). Under the one-child policy, children have no siblings can share this obligation, so they have
full responsibility to their parents. In addition, the population of people over 65 years old in India was
far less than in China. Insufficient young labour force caused by ageing population might slowdown
economic growth. (Dhaliwal. 2016). This is the reason why manufacturing jobs started shifting from
China to India during that time. (“Does China have an aging problem?,”, n.d.).
When children became the only child in the family, some parents are likely to overprotect
them, put enormous pressure on them and even try to control their future. Under this condition, many
children became mama’s boys and mama’s girls. They were spoiled, immature and lack of social
skills. (Upton-Mclaughlin, 2013). They made decisions dependent on their parents. (Urbandictionary,
n.d.).
Chinese government imposed one-child policy to restrain baby boomers and achieve
population containment. However, one-child policy lead to bad influence on offspring and society.
Therefore, starting on 2016, with the open up of two-child policy, it created a population growth
lower than global average and a more balanced gender ratio. There was a growing awareness of
equality between the sexes and ageing population was alleviated.

Reference
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