Last October, China ended its 35-year-old policy of restricting most urban families to one child. Commonly referred to as the "one-child" policy, the restrictions were actually a collection of rules that governed how many children married couples could have.
"The basic idea was to encourage everybody, by coercion if necessary, to keep to ... one child," journalist Mei Fong tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.
Fong explores the wide-ranging impact of what she calls the world's "most radical experiment" in her new book, One Child. She says that among the policy's unintended consequences is an acute gender imbalance.
"When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," Fong says. "Now China has 30 million more men than women, 30 million bachelors who cannot find brides. ... They call them guang guan, 'broken branches,' that's the name in Chinese. They are the biological dead ends of their family."
Fong says the policy also led to forced abortions and the confiscation of children by the authorities. Looking ahead, China is also facing a shortage of workers who can support its aging population.
"Right now China has a dependency ratio of about five working adults to support one retiree. That's pretty good, that's a very healthy ratio. In about 20 years that's going to jump to about 1.6 working adults to support one retiree," Fong says. "The one-child policy drastically reshaped the composition of China's people. So now they have a population that's basically too old and too male and, down the line, maybe too few."
Interview Highlights
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
On the economic and cultural implications of losing your only child in China
It means a lot, economically speaking, because a lot of families still don't have any kind of a financial security, so losing one child is basically a pension plan, so that's one thing. For the Chinese, culturally speaking, the continuance of the family line was very important, so when you die without any issue you are basically violating all sorts of duties to your ancestors, which is very important. ... Chinese society is still very family-centric even if it's just a small family size, you're not considered fully an adult until you are married, and you're not considered complete until you have a child, and when you lose that child, you fall quite far down the societal totem pole.
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So, for example, this family that I covered that had lost their only child [in an earthquake], they lost a lot of status in their village. They said that their neighbors were avoiding them and shunning them, basically, that they were worried that this childless couple would now be hangers-on, clinging onto them, borrowing money, not having any sort of protection — so that's what losing your one child means.
Today in Chinese context there's a name for these people who have lost their only child, it's called shidu, and it means, "parents who've lost their only child." And for parents who are shidu, some of them find it hard to get admitted into nursing homes. Some nursing homes won't take them. They say, "You have no progeny to authorize treatments or payments or anything, so we'd prefer not to admit you." They also have difficulty buying funeral plots for the same reason. Who is going to service the maintenance costs of your cemetery down the line? So these are very sad issues.
On exceptions to the one-child policy
They would have some certain exceptions, because they found that they could not make everybody keep to that one-child rule without allowing for certain exceptions. So you could technically have a second child if you had a certain job that was hazardous, like if you were a coal miner or a fisherman. You could also have a second child maybe if you were one of China's minority tribes or if you lived in a rural area and your first child was a girl and they recognize that a lot of people want to try for sons. But the end result was that with all of these exceptions coming down the line, a lot of people didn't really necessarily know what the rules were, so it was very easy to contravene them and be fined for them.
On how the one-child policy was enforced
If [a woman] lived in a small village, for example, she would probably be scrutinized by a group, she would probably be grouped together with a set of households and come under what they call a cluster leader, somebody who sort of monitors the progress and fertility rights of a certain set of households. ... So if this woman ... fell pregnant then most likely this cluster leader would know about it very quickly and then she would report to higher up. ... Probably at first a village leader would show up at their doorstep and say, "You know very well you should not have this; you could have all sorts of problem with this. You may have to pay a fine." I've met enforcers who have gone to these houses and say, "We used to take away something valuable to show that we mean business." ... Like a television set, for example, or a pig, or sometimes if the household was a very poor household they'll take away homespun cloth or grain or something, something that had to make it hurt, basically — that was in a village setting, of course.
In a city setting they could maybe, if you worked for a [civil service-like] job they might threaten to fire you. ... This is for having a child. If you went for a termination, all of this would go away. But, of course, then there were people who really wanted the child and then they would try and evade the whole process of being taken away for a forced abortion, because here's the thing: Between your conception and your delivery date, all bets are off — they can make you.
On the aging population in China
The one-child policy drastically reshaped the composition of China's people. So now they have a population that's basically too old and too male and down the line, maybe too few. So the too old issue is that right now China has a dependency ratio of about five working adults to support one retiree. That's pretty good, that's a very healthy ratio. In about 20 years that's going to jump to about 1.6 working adults to support one retiree, and that's because that big population boom that we talked about, that big cohort of people are all living longer and getting older and therefore hitting their 70s, 80s and 90s, so by the time 2050 comes around one in four Chinese people will be a retiree.
The entire population of retirees in China would be the third largest nation in this world, if they were to form their own country. So that has nothing to do with the one-child policy, that's just a function of people living longer and growing older, but the problem is then you have this very small working cohort to support that, and that has everything to do with the one-child policy. You just drastically shrank the number of working adults who support this huge, aging tsunami and that's the problem going ahead.
On technology allowing parents to know the sex of the fetus
In the beginning when the policy came around in 1980, at that time they did not have scanning machines that could determine the gender of the fetus at an early stage, so people who delivered girls, for example, and wanted to keep their quota for that one boy — because if you used up your quota for a girl and then you gave birth to another girl and you would lose that — so people would either abandon their daughters or there would be infanticide, or they would give them away, which is part of the reason why we saw so many adoptions of Chinese babies, mostly girls, in the West.
But later in the 1990s, technology made it easier for people to do all these scans and companies like General Electric made these scanning machines that were portable and small enough that you could go from village to village and you could determine the sex of your fetus ... for as little as $10 or $20, so people would just have an abortion instead of carrying a child to full term. ... The Nobel economist Amartya Sen estimated there were about 100 million missing women, women that were never born or killed or aborted across Asia.
On a generation of women being more educated and professionally successful because of the one-child policy
Let's say you were born after 1980 in a big city, chances are you probably don't have a sibling. And if you're a girl and you don't have a sibling, you don't have to fight with your sibling for resources. So your parents will want to send you to college. They won't be debating a question of whether they should spend the money on your brother or yourself; it's all for you. So imagine this scenario replicated a million times over and the end result is urban women born after 1980 achieved way more than any other generation before them.
I think that it is unfair for somebody to be restricted to one child. Some families want to be able to have large family. The government was limiting "most urban families to one child" (NPR). I think that it is good that the government is allowing the families to be able to have more than one child.
ReplyDeleteKaci Pebley
Period 2
I think it is very wrong to end a mothers pregnancy just because the law is they can only have one child following "the one child policy" (NPR). I believe it is up to a mother to decide how many children she choose to have, that's why I am glad they are ending this law for families.
ReplyDeleteMegan Welter Per. 2
Forcing citizens in China to have a max of one child is not only wrong, but in my opinion it is dumb. As Fong said above, "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons" (Fong). This causes an unbalanced number of male to female citizens in China. 30 million bachelors trying to find wives that do not exist where they live.
ReplyDeleteWith China being one of the most populated countries in the world, controlling the amount of children one can have could be a good thing, but not in the way they are doing it. First of all, they should not abort a child based on gender as "they have a population that's basically too old and too male and down the line"(China). Also, instead of forcing abortions maybe the country could provide free contraceptive items. In conclusion the country should control their population but should try to limit forcing abortions and doing it based on gender.
ReplyDeleteAmar Dhillon Period 2
I agree with amar. china is probably the most populated country. the amount of children they have is a good thing because it will keep the world going. The bad thing is the abortions they are having. abortions are so wrong because it is basically murder when your ending the babies life.
DeleteConsidering that China is extremely over-populated, I understand the need to limit the amount of children being brought into the world. However, they are going about the situation in horribly wrong ways. Families should be able to grow as if that's what the parents desire. Although because of the overpopulation, this isn't possible. People should never abort a child based purely on their gender. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons" (Fong) this statement is claiming that people would abort their child if she were a girl, which is a horrible thing to say, so it is great that they are putting an end to this law.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gina. China may be over-populated but that does not mean that they should be brutal about it. "In the beginning when the policy came around in 1980, at that time they did not have scanning machines that could determine the gender of the fetus at an early stage, so people who delivered girls, for example, and wanted to keep their quota for that one boy — because if you used up your quota for a girl and then you gave birth to another girl and you would lose that — so people would either abandon their daughters or there would be infanticide, or they would give them away, which is part of the reason why we saw so many adoptions of Chinese babies, mostly girls, in the West." (NPR). It is so wrong to abandon little girls no matter how over populated China is. People should never kill, abort, or abandon a child based on their gender. I am very glad that they are putting an end to this law.
DeleteI agree with Gina. China may be over-populated but that does not mean that they should be brutal about it. "In the beginning when the policy came around in 1980, at that time they did not have scanning machines that could determine the gender of the fetus at an early stage, so people who delivered girls, for example, and wanted to keep their quota for that one boy — because if you used up your quota for a girl and then you gave birth to another girl and you would lose that — so people would either abandon their daughters or there would be infanticide, or they would give them away, which is part of the reason why we saw so many adoptions of Chinese babies, mostly girls, in the West." (NPR). It is so wrong to abandon little girls no matter how over populated China is. People should never kill, abort, or abandon a child based on their gender. I am very glad that they are putting an end to this law.
DeleteI strongly disagree with this law. Aborting a male child is cruel and "So now they have a population that's basically too old and too male and down the line, maybe too few."(NPR) Yes there population will decrease and be manageable, but there male species will slowly decrease to the point of being unbalanced.
ReplyDeleteCameron Stone - P6
ReplyDeleteThe "one child" policy was cruel and inhumane. It tosses aside any morals that people have, and doesn't give them a choice. It creates hardship within families, especially with regards to gender. The article said that, "when you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons." This created a major gender gap and tore apart families. This also forced women to have abortions. It is great that the policy was abolished because it was immoral and cruel.
I agree with what you are saying the one child policy is cruel and inhumane. The preference for a male child is higher so their will be a huge gender gap. It is terrible how many women would have a forced abortion it should be a choice not something you are forced into. So yes it is great that the policy was abolished.
DeleteI disagree with Chinas one child policy. Although China is very overpopulated, that doesn't mean that there should be a law restricting the amount of kids a family has. "So now they have a population that's basically too old and too male and down the line, maybe too few"(NPR). The gender population is already unbalanced because of the preference of having a male child. It's inhumane to enforce this policy because it doesn't give them a choice.
ReplyDeleteThis one child only policy was a quick way to reduce the population but now with this aging generation, there is no one to take care of them. Reducing the population even further is the greater amount of males relative to females. This quick fix was unfair and borderline cruel, but that's all it was: a quick fix. Down the line many problems will arise as demonstrated by the aging generation.
ReplyDeleteThe one child policy is a terrible policy that should not be put into place by any county. As Cameron mentioned in his comment, the policy is inhumane and morally incorrect. "when you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons"(NPR). This could turn into a giant problem with the population turning into all boys and very little women. It is not right to shrink a family size if they do not wish to do so.
ReplyDelete-Rhys Kennedy
Per. 6
The one child policy is a terrible idea. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (NPR). This shows that there would be a lot more men than women in their society. This poses a problem of not being able keep the population growing or staying the same.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing right or humane about China's one child policy. I do understand that China has too large of a population and need to limit the number of children being born, but there is no need for aborting male children. I feel it should be the mothers or families decision whether they would like to keep their child or not. However, some people may have the decision to give birth to the baby, but not keep it.. that's when adoption or foster care can come into play. Whether the mother or father wants the baby or not, abortion should never be the answer.
ReplyDeleteThe one child policy is a terrible idea. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (NPR). This shows that there would be a lot more men than women in their society. This poses a problem of not being able keep the population growing or staying the same.
ReplyDeleteThe one child policy is a terrible idea. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (NPR). This shows that there would be a lot more men than women in their society. This poses a problem of not being able keep the population growing or staying the same.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with China's use of the "one child" policy. China is a heavily over-populated area and it is understandable that there are issues regarding the amount of children being birthed. However, it is morally incorrect to forbid or prevent someone from bearing a child. It is a basic human right to produce offspring and no country should be able to override this right.
ReplyDeleteAlexis Miller
period 6
I think it's unfair to force people to only have one child. It shouldn't be the governments choice if a family can or can not have more then one child. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons" (Fong). In the future, this would be very hurtful to them because they will have a whole bunch of men who want to get married and have families, but some won't be able to since there won't be enough girls that are old enough.
ReplyDeleteAlena Romero Period 5
I understand that China is over populated, but I disagree with the one child policy. It doesn't give people a choice and it upsets families. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (NPR). Since most people chose sons now there are many more men than women creating and unbalanced population.
ReplyDeleteI understand that China is over populated. However, forcing the people of China to only have one child is unjust. Abortions should not be forced. Also, abortions based on gender should not happen: "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons" (Fong). They are creating a huge gender gap by their preference for males. I agree with Rachael Badgley that it is inhumane to force abortions because it doesn’t give them a choice. There needs to be a different way to control population size.
ReplyDeleteOlivia Lasecke
period 2
China is highly over populated but the "one child" policy only causes more problems then it solved. It is highly unethical to force people to choose their children. This policy has left China's ratio of men to women extremely unbalanced.
ReplyDelete-Shanon Parker Per.6
China has a big population and a one-child rule is not going to fix it. The current generation of adults is the generation where the population increased because "when you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (Fong). They all wanted sons and aborted any sign of a girl. They think that a son will carry on their village and their family name, where in reality it is just making it so that there are not enough women in the population. The one-child policy in China has greatly unbalanced it's population and will continue on for many generations to come.
ReplyDeleteEmily Bobrowsky- Period 1
I don’t think that China’s one-child policy is a solution to fixing the country’s population size. I believe that this policy brings lots of anger and sadness into its citizens. China’s people are forced to have abortions and other embryo removing procedures—this is inhumane and deranged. “The one-child policy drastically reshaped the composition of China's people. So now they have a population that's basically too old and too male and down the line, maybe too few” (Fong). The attempt to cut down the population already shows some detrimental effects in the end.
ReplyDeleteMarie Ong—Period 6
I really don't think this is going to help the country's population size. I don't think they need this law of policy in China because it takes children away from families and brings sadness and anger to them. In this generation, the ratio of men to women is unequal in countries. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons" (Fong). I really don't think they should continue on with this policy. Brandon Marshall Period 4
ReplyDeleteI can understand that China is very over-populated, however, this one child is not any good for their country. It is unfair for the families and it should not be the governments choice on how many kids you can have. All this rule does is bring upset to the families living there. As well as that, the rule also makes the families pick which child they want and the picking of too many boys is making the boy to girl ratio significantly unbalanced. With that in mind, this unbalanced ratio will cause many men to die alone and will not allow them to continue their family name or have a family of their own.
ReplyDeleteJohn Fortino- Per. 5
China has gotten bigger and bigger over the past year but a policy saying you can only have 1 child is just wrong. This policy has honestly caused more problems that it has solved. Many females in China are obligated o abort there children. This policy is inhumane and needs to be stopped, its cruel and is just causing more problems.
ReplyDeleteI can get that China is heavily over populated, but having the one child policy is wrong. That policy causes more ethical problems than it does solve the problem of over population. The whole choosing the son thing is ridiculous too, because there would be a lot more men in their society, as well as girls being considered useless, which is completely unbalanced. It is inhumane. Overall I think they should forget the one child policy because it is causing more problems than it is solving.
ReplyDeleteHannah Miller, P2
I know that China has a great size of people living there but it is still no excuse and just having one child is horrible. I feel that the citizens get to choose how many children they want to have. Also when it is speaking that they would rather have a son then girl, they are basically saying that men are better then woman. Overall China has better problems to deal.
ReplyDeleteAlayna Texley
Per. 2
I understand that since China is over populated they had to fix the issue some how. Although with China having such a big population, it is causing a great amount of pollution in the air making it very unhealthy to live there. With that said, I Could see why they would limit the families to only have one child per household. I do have to say that putting a limit on how many kids someone can have is a bit ridiculous. No one should be torn apart from their own child and not be able to raise them or watch them grow up. All in all, I could see why China would want to make a rule like that with wanting it to be a healthier environment but that doesn't rule out the fact that it's still ethically questionable.
ReplyDeleteI think the one child policy that was in China is cruel. If mothers were expecting it forced them to have an abortion. To many women, having abortions is immoral, and having the government forcing it on people was a big problem. Also, another big problem was that the male population grew because of families having to choose one kid. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons" (Fong).
ReplyDeleteCourtney Hulsing
Per. 2
I can see why China is having this policy where you are only aloud to have 1 child. China contains an insane amount of people and the population is still rising. Making it to where you're only aloud to have 1 child can cause a lot of problems. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons"(NPR). This could lead to having way to many boys in the country and not enough women. In the long run, it could really bounce back and back fire on China.
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
Zack Hayden
Honestly, in my opinion I think it's a good thing the 1 child policy has ended in China. I understand why they created this policy because of how overpopulated it is, but with the 1 child policy, situations like this quote might happen ""Now China has 30 million more men than women, 30 million bachelors who cannot find brides." (Fong) or this quote "Today in Chinese context there's a name for these people who have lost their only child, it's called shidu, and it means, "parents who've lost their only child." And for parents who are shidu, some of them find it hard to get admitted into nursing homes." (NPR). Lastly I would like to mention how the 1 child policy can possibly prevent parents to have force abortions.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that the one child policy has been lifted. Families of all races and cultures should feel free to have as many children as they wish. I was shocked to read the quote, "Fong says the policy also led to forced abortions and the confiscation of children by the authorities." (NPR) I cannot believe that the government would actually take children away from families. It is terrible to think that children will not be able to grow up with their biological families.
ReplyDeleteWith China being over populated, I understood why they had to law that families could only have one child. I am glad that this policy no longer exists, because it is the families decision on how many kids they want, not the country's. The policy also led to forced abortions and the confiscation of children by the authorities (NPR). It is sad to hear that some families had to abort their kid all because of a policy. Imagining what mothers had to go through being glad they were going to have a kid to being force to abort it is terrible. I hope the people of China are glad that the one child policy no longer exists.
ReplyDelete- Sheila Ordukhani per 2
I understand why China has come up with this rule due to overpopulation. The two things that I think are wrong with this is that women already pregnant with a child should be able to have that child and people should be allowed to grow as big as a family as they want. I am glad that "China ended its 35-year-old policy of restricting most urban families to one child" so that families can be as big as they desire (NPR). Also there will be a huge decrease in abortions in China. I am happy for the families in China that they do not have to follow this rule anymore.
ReplyDeleteI understand that China has a different culture and I respect that, and I also think it's great that they're getting rid of this rule, but I hate how the first point they make is for men again. Instead of starting with how wrong it is to kill a baby simply because it's a girl, they say "Now China has 30 million more men than woman, 30 million bachelors who cannot find brides..." (NPR). I just think it's sad that anyone would do that. I thought gender equality in America was bad but looking at how it is in China makes America's feel like heaven. Hopefully soon China will start treating both genders fairly too.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is going to help the country's population. Forcing the people of China to only have one child is wrong. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (NPR). This shows that there would be a lot more men than women. Families should be able to grow as if that's what the parents desire. China is one of the most populated countries in the world, controlling the amount of children a family could be good, but their doing it wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis law that restricts families to one child only is wrong. Many religions do not believe in abortions, and this law is forcing mothers to have abortions or chose between children. Choosing between two children is also not a good idea because this causes many families to chose males. This leads to an increase in male population. For both of these reasons, it is a good idea that china has gotten rid of this policy."China ended its 35-year-old policy of restricting most urban families to one child"(NPR).
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others I don't believe it is going to help China's population." Now China has 30 million more men than women, 30 million women and bachelors who cannot find brides."(NPR) I just think forcing China to have one child is not right. They should be able to have as many as they want. Also there are many children that might not be able to see there biological parents. I hope they are glad that the one child policy is over.
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
The child restriction law is bizarre, and I don't think it will help the population there. I don't even understand why the population is so large in the first place, it isn't like china is the most desirable place to live--I guarantee it's not everyone's first choice. Maybe if the government would let people leave, then the country would have a lot less people.
ReplyDeleteThe problem that surfaces with the one child law is that people naturally will want to have a son. Males have a better prevalence in society and thus women are less valued. Yes, you are successfully combating overpopulation, but you are also committing mass genocide to the women of your culture. China's plan had good intentions, but there is no way you can limit the people to one child and not expect native repercussions in the female population. If anything, a two child policy would benefit the country while growing the population at a healthy rate. "...and you could determine the sex of your fetus ... for as little as $10 or $20, so people would just have an abortion instead of carrying a child to full term..." (Fong)
ReplyDeleteRestricting the number of children a family can have, in order to manage population seems like one of many solutions available. It is also the most gruesome, considering,"When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons" (Fong). since most families would choose having a son over a daughter, yes the population would go down over a short period of time, but over a long period of time, if everyone is having sons then the population will eventually die out if there are not enough females to keep the population growing.
ReplyDeleteGAAAHH Stupid Blog delete all mah stuuff. I haded so much typed. AND DELETED. STUPID BLOG! GAAAHH. I'M DONE WITH THIS. But for the sake of points I will type something that gives me points. GO AWAY USER ACCOUNT CONTROL! Okay. Now, Japan already went through this problem and saw the consequences of reducing the amount of children per family (although not forcibly). "urban women born after 1980 achieved way more than any other generation before them"(Fong). Good for women. Always see the positive in a situation, but don't ignore the bad.
ReplyDelete-Benjamin Gross
Period 6
Now to copy before I publish ..........
Hey! It didn't delete it all. BTW my space is broken
I think it is unfair to restrict the number of children that a family can have. However, China is a LARGE and GROWING country with over a billion people living within. How do you control the population to prevent overpopulation? The only thing you can do is restrict the amount of babies are being created to how many older citizens are dying. Maybe China is letting the population take a dip to a more sustainable one, which means restricting the number of children being born. "Because if you used up your quota for a girl and then you gave birth to another girl and you would lose that." However I do not like the fact that parents can choose their babies genders. There is a slim number of girls compared to the majority of boys in china. The girls living their are becoming more and more rare to see, which lessens the chance of partners to come together.
ReplyDelete-Muzamil Ahmad p.6
I cannot believe what I have read in this document. The fact that just "Last October, China ended its 35-year-old policy of restricting most urban families to one child." Last October? How long have the citizens of China been living under this absurd rule? I do not believe that only having one child is always something people control. The way I see this is that, if you have a twin or identical twin, the government just expects the family to what...give a twin up for adoption? Or even in a sense kill that child? The size of a family should be chosen by the family, and ONLY the family. If the family chooses that they wanted to have more than one child and they weren't allowed to, they could be denied their dream of having a large family. "So, for example, this family that I covered that had lost their only child [in an earthquake], they lost a lot of status in their village. They said that their neighbors were avoiding them and shunning them, basically, that they were worried that this childless couple would now be hangers-on, clinging onto them, borrowing money, not having any sort of protection — so that's what losing your one child means." This is an extreme, but could have been avoided if it weren't restricted by the policy.The fact that the government in China had felt the need to interfere in people's family affairs so profoundly is to me, beyond belief. as the document says, "The one-child policy drastically reshaped the composition of China's people. So now they have a population that's basically too old and too male and down the line, maybe too few." This only proves that the China needs the younger generation to keep the country functioning! As I hear all the time, "we are the future", "the future is in the hands of our children/young people!" the world has enough killing and sadness in it, mostly with adults. We cannot, as humans, sink so low to killing/giving up our children.
ReplyDelete^ Sydney Rose Andrews per.6
ReplyDeleteThe "one child" policy is terrible. I understand that China is over populated but families should have the choice to have as many people in their family. If people in China want a bigger family, they should just move where they are able to. It is also not right to get an abortion based off a gender.
ReplyDeleteI understand that China is overpopulated, but the “one child” policy is inhuman and extremely unfair to everyone. This goes against many peoples beliefs, but they are not given a choice and this is truly sad that this is taking place. And it is also very wrong to choose to abort a kid based on gender. And it is awful to hear that ,“There were about 100 million missing women, women that were never born or killed or aborted across Asia (NPR).” It is good to hear that this law has been abolished.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Willis per.5
I think this is very ridiculous and unjust proposition. Hearing this is slightly odd because as being a citizen of America, we have a lot of freedom and rights. As where other countries don't exactly have the same freedoms. We would never hear such a thing as a "one child policy" here where we live. How many children a couple decides to have is completely their business, not the government's business. As far as forced abortion, that is even more absurd. Some people have strong religious values and wouldn't ever decide to have an abortion. Which is completely acceptable. It all depends on the person and the female who is having the baby. This isn't an open discussion for the government regardless of where you live or how over populated it is. - Sabrina Shaw Per. 4
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm happy that this law is being abolished, there is something else I'd like to address. A number of other commentators seem to have forgotten that these mothers aren't always being forced to abort their unborn children; true there may be some cases where the husband may pressure them into doing so, but following the Chinese culture, "the continuance of the family line [is] very important"(NPR). Traditionally, the Chinese culture is very gender biased towards males, favoring them in the aspect of carrying on the lineage (as are most cultures). Some of the pregnant mothers may have felt some sort of dishonor towards their ancestors in being incapable of carrying on the lineage which would have led to them independently aborting their children. The law never stated that only male children may be birthed, but rather the pressures of tradition and society. Additionally, the law was put into place to control the bloating of the society's numbers, a problem that can be seen in parallel in the US. Morally, the law may seem to be an act against our humanity, freedoms, and natural rights, but logically it can be seen as a good tactical move. But even in such a case, that would only continue to minimize the society, as seen in the current male to female ratio. While the law may have been a good idea as to feeding and maintaining the population, eventually, along that route, the entire population could have died out. In parallel, the absence of such restrictions increases the following generations exponentially, something that is beginning to become a problem here in seven child families. We've all had to do those family tree layouts, and if you compare that project to the global population, eventually we're going to have too much people and not enough land.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the idea of living in the here and now and having a full and happy family, to what end will that bring us?
I'm not supporting the law, as I do find the restrictions repulsive, but people really should start thinking about the good of the future generations.
I respect there beliefs, but at some point it becomes idiotic. I am honestly surprised they didn't figure out that this was going to happen along time ago. If you think about it, in most societies people would rather give up a girl than a boy because the boy Can do more labor intensive work. There is a reason that in some countries when a couple gets married the girl leaves her old family and goes with the new family, the parents would rather have a boy so that he could do all the work and the parents wouldn't have to do any.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Chinese government made their biggest mistake ever. It also shows once more how communism often leads to failure. If the chinese citizens had been able to vote, this would not have happened.
ReplyDeleteRight now, there are about 5 workers to support a retiree. "In about 20 years that's going to jump to about 1.6 working adults to support one retiree." (Mei Fong). This is gonna lead to huge economical problems, younger generations are going to pay for it. Also, enforcing such a policy in a country where a male child is much more valuable than a female one, is just rediculous. I really can't understand why the government didn't realize earlier what issues they would be facing due to their policy.
Bruno Wilhelm, Period 5
I understand the country is extremely overpopulated and this can lead to serious problems with the amount of people living there. But families should be able to grow at the rate they want. The solution to fixing the overpopulation is not terminating the pregnancy. I believe the one child policy is inhuman and is not fair to the families who want a big family. Abortion is an extremely controversial subject and many religions oppose it, making it unfair to make someone chose between having another child and having an abortion.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is sad knowing that they can only have one kid. "Now China has 30 million more men than women, 30 million bachelors who cannot find brides. ... They call them guang guan, 'broken branches,' that's the name in Chinese. They are the biological dead ends of their family." (Mel Fong) This quote is explaining how if the mother has a daughter, they won't have a male child to pass on their family name. Just thinking of this upsets me because their family name will be gone forever and I also think it's sad how they have to have an abortion with their other kids. “There were about 100 million missing women, women that were never born or killed or aborted across Asia (NPR).” Also this is explaining how their will be no more women if this law keeps happening.
ReplyDeleteI can see how china would think that there new law's are going to help, but I'm a little shocked that China hasn't realized how there plan is backfiring. "When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (NPR). The Chinese culture pressures's women to choose males over females so their family name will live on. This is creating a huge imbalance of genders and the way that china is handling with abortions is wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis law is very wrong for any person living in china. I understand that there is an overpopulation problem in china, but this is not the way to solve this problem. Ristricting a family to one child violates there rights as a human being. Also I found it interesting when the aricle said ""Now China has 30 million more men than women, 30 million bachelors who cannot find brides. ... " this quote proves that this law did not work to benefit the country
ReplyDelete-Zach Potter per 5
This one child limit law is a bad idea and not right. On top of that, they are aborting male babies, that just adds to it. Even though China is overpopulated; this is not the right way to fix it. It is inhumane and wrong to limit families to only having one child. It is a good idea that this law is abolished.
ReplyDeleteIt is understandable that China would attempt to reduce their extremely overpopulated country, however the one child law was not the answer and has ultimately cost a China more than what they had bargained for. Parents should not be forced to restrict the amount of children they want to have, and the murder of millions of infant females has left a gap in the generations in which they have outnumbered the ladies by about 30 million. "'...now they have a population that's basically too old and too male'" (Fong).
ReplyDeleteSydney Crozier
Period 2
It's understandable how China would like there population to go down but by aborting children and making a rule of only one child. That's just wrong because families should be able to do what they want with their children and not have to either sacrifice so many to get a specific one then only have a specific gender role on those children. To me this is a very messed up thing and China should most definitely not take part in it.
ReplyDeleteJosh Leifker per.1
I think that it is very wrong to end a mothers pregnancy just because the law is they can only have one child following "the one child policy" (NPR). i understand why china would want to decrease there population but this is not the way to do it. "now they have a population that's basically too old and too male" (Fong). This rule is just cruel and depressing. They are crushing dreams to families that want to have a very large family.
ReplyDeleteKarly Hagen Period.4
"When you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons," (NPR) The system that China is using is not a very good one. People are going to have more then one kids no matter what and then you are just forcing abortion after abortion on people which is just wrong. Truman Andrus period 6
ReplyDeleteNot allowing people in China to have more than on child seems mean and very controlling. This rules seems wrong because it restricts the freedom of the Chinese people Plus it creates problems such as the imbalance of males and females since most of the Chinese people choose to have sons.
ReplyDeleteI simply cannot comprehend this treatment. "They said that their neighbors were avoiding them and shunning them..." They should be supporting their neighbors and consoling them. This is horrendous.
ReplyDeleteThe "one child" policy was cruel and inhumane. It tosses aside any morals that people have, and doesn't give them a choice. It creates hardship within families, especially with regards to gender. The article said that, "when you create a system where you would shrink the size of a family and people would have to choose, then people would ... choose sons." This created a major gender gap and tore apart families. This also forced women to have abortions. It is great that the policy was abolished because it was immoral and cruel.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article,I think that the one child policy was very bad because it can force the parents to get rid of their babies.I think that China should allow families to have as many kids as they want.
ReplyDeleteCameron Stone -- P6
ReplyDeleteThe One-Child policy in China is inhumane and should be abolished. It is cruel to abort an unborn baby just because someone wants, "to keep their quota for that one boy". To refer to a living, breathing human being as merely a "quota" is horrible. This policy has warped the minds of Chinese citizens. It has desensitized them to feelings of morality and emotions.