Impact of One Child Policy for Chinese Society Research Paper

Impact of One Child Policy for Chinese Society - Research Paper Example This is due to the forced abortions and sterilizations in China. Moreover, the neglect and abandonment of a girl child in China has caused sharp criticisms against this policy. More significant is the fact that China’s one-child-per-couple policy has been included in the country’s legislation on demographic strategy (Chen 74). This research paper gives a critical analysis and discussion of China’s one-child-per-couple policy with a view of demonstrating its impact on the Chinese society. The background to this policy, conflicts arising out of it and the awareness of the generation on this policy and its impacts are also presented within the paper. Background of the Policy The idea of birth control was introduced in China in the 1950s by a group of various non party intellectuals. This idea is argued to be the origin of China’s one child policy. In the book, The New Population Theory, Professor Yinchu Ma in 1957 argued that the control of the population wou ld be the solution to the problems in child and maternal health. Professor Yinchu Ma also pointed out that the regulation of population growth will reduce the mortality rates within the society. The initial years of the Chinese New Republic was characterized by leaders who revealed support for the control of population growth. This is because leaders in the government attributed the country’s rapid growth of its population as a threat to its food surplus and economic growth (Waldmeir 1). Birth control began to be popularized, especially in the densely populated parts of China. Moreover, propaganda was included in the desire for birth control and reduction of population growth rate. This is demonstrated by the campaigns in the 1960s which popularized and promoted two child family and late marriage (Li, Junjian and Junsen 1535). The birth control policy in China grew from the voluntary birth control programs which were promoted by various social campaigns. Later, the control of population became a state based affair (McLoughlin 305). This was motivated by the rapid rise in the Chinese population, especially in the 1970s, when the additional 250 million people were registered within China. The state governed birth control began as an extension of abortion and contraceptive services to China’s rural areas. This extended into glorification long intervals between child birth, smaller families and later marriages (Chow, Esther and Zhao 37). These campaigns and programs yielded fruits in 1975 when the fertility rate in the rural and urban communities fell below 4% and 1.8% respectively (Yang 320). Nonetheless, the government officials depicted that further growth of the population was inherently inevitable. This is due to the fact that about half of the Chinese society was below the age of 21 years. This was affirmed by the 1982 census which disclosed a 1 billion growth in the Chinese population (Chen 75). Officials predicted that if the trend of populat ion growth persisted, the Chinese population would exceed 1.4 billion people in the turn of the century (McLoughlin 307). The rapid growth of the population was now seen as an apparent thereat to China’s ambitions and strategic plans for economic growth and modernization. As a result of this, in 1979, the one child policy emerged in China. This policy was announced officially in 1980 by the