Government Population Control in China Essay Example
Government Population Control in China Essay Example

Government Population Control in China Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 15 (3977 words)
  • Published: May 5, 2017
  • Type: Analysis
View Entire Sample
Text preview

In the early part of the 20th century, the Chinese leadership was confronted with what they thought was an insuperable problem and that was the rapid rate of population increase for a big, rural, impoverished population. The policies for birth and population planning were first carried out on the Maoist Era and such policies have been effective in different patterns thereafter.The first part of policies targeted to increase the population to fill the goal of the country’s rapid industrialization in contrast to the present-time policies which are directed at low growth population applying assorted programs to promote birth control and discourage having excess children in the centrally-mandated population target.

This paper will center on the aftermaths of the birth and population planning policies.The first section of the paper will go over the pol

...

icies carried out in the later part of 20th century concentrating on the pattern and execution of the one-child policy initially carried out in 1979. The second portion will look at the demographic and societal issues of the policy. The second portion will look at both demographic and social consequences of the policy. Following it, the paper will go over a few of the policies practiced in Japan and South Korea to direct various results.The concluding part will view techniques in which China has treated, or is looking at treating, these results.

Background Birth and Population Planning in the 20th Century Population provision in China did not commence with the one-child only policy of 1979; rather, such policy was the completion of a series of policies led off in the 1950’s which targeted at bringing down the rate of population increase. The policies

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

basically possessed this objective but deviated in the techniques by which they planned to take on this goal and the level of inclemency with which they were implemented.In the 1950’s, policies centered on attaining economic growth through ameliorating maternal and child health. By 1962-1966 informative movements advocated families to plan for future births, bigger gap between them, and raise women’s access to contraceptives and abortions.

The tertiary stage, by 1971-1979, stressed training and access as well, but also presented domestic and provincial level aims for births which, in principle, also rendered into objectives at the local tier (Riley, 2004, p. 1-12). Lastly, the one-child policy was presented in 1979 and is presently effective. The above-mentioned paragraphs render a compact overview of the population or birth policies which reached the desired effect of rising maternal and child health, radically bringing down the normal quantity of children per couple by a mean of six to three, and reducing the population increase rate.An overview of the policies would be partial without a discourse of their inconsistent execution. Complications with carrying out and implementing the birth and planning policies are suggestive of techniques in which the organization of centralized provision has tended to collapse at the local level and means in which policies, and consequences, are rather dissimilar in urbanized and rural locations in China.

Execution of Birth and Population Planning in ChinaThe one-child policy has been enforced thru an arrangement of motivators for submission, such as orientation in informative opportunities, healthcare, living accommodations and occupation grants, and disincentives for lack of compliance, such as fines and loss of access to education and other privileges (Riley, 2004, p. 12).

In spite of these motivators, the policy has never been purely applied uniformly over time or space in China. Preceding the year 1984, the formal goal was to retain the Chinese population below 1. billion and localized cadres were expected to impose the policy to fulfill this objective. The basic processes for exercising such were the furtherance of contraceptive method mainly the Intra Uterine Devices or IUDs and enforced sterilizations (Greenhalgh, 1994, p.

7).Some of the sternest enforcement standards on this period included state-mandated insertion of IUD for the entire women having one child and sterilization of couples generally of the woman having two or more children (Greenhalgh, 1994, p. ). Partly in reaction to largely-peasant opposition to the one-child policy, in the year 1984, “Document 7” was put out, leaving local cadres to “adapt policy to local circumstances and to avoid heavy-handed enforcement methods” (Riley, 2004, p.

13). Besides the constituted license granted to them, local cadres likewise have tended to manage with women and their respective families over birth provision given their personal social values which are mostly related to those of their district.The considered community norms for family size is generally at least one male baby and rather two male or one male and one female which all came from both social customs and “economic exigencies”; local cadres frequently share these perspectives (Greenhalgh, 1994, p. 11). Women, themselves, usually refuse the policies by way of the self-appointed removal of their IUDs and not practicing contraception (Greenhalgh, 1994, p. 16-18).

The execution of birth and population policies leads from the talk between women, spokesperson of community norms, and local cadres, with orientations formed by

their membership in the communities and their function as an authorized person in the state apparatus (Greenhalgh, 1994, p. 13). Demographic Outcomes Though the one-child policy has been counted on to have cut down population increase in China by 300 million during the initial twenty years, it has also produced a host of inadvertent effects.These results consist of the male's high sex imbalance, sex-selective miscarriage, infanticide, and approaching social safety net complications. Sex-Ratio Growth The sex ratio in China is probably the most well-known result of the one-child policy.

It is defined as the symmetry of male live births to that of female which ranks from 1. 03 to 1. 07 in industrialized nations (Davis ; Gottlieb, 1998). Prior to the execution of the policy in the year 1979, the accounted sex ratio in China was 1.

6 countrywide. This developed to 1. 11 in the year 1988 and 1. 17 in the year 2001 (Kang ; Wang, 2003).

The ratio is one that changes importantly by area and degree of growth, having ratios of up to 1. 3 in rural regions of Anhui, Guangdong and Qinghai provinces. The conventional orientation for male children has incited actions resulting to the sex imbalance. Some contend that at least in greater metropolitan regions, this view is shifting more balanced rating of male and female children.However, the newest large-scale study of reproductive health and birth rate renders grounds contrarily showing that the inflated sex ratio remains to exist in both rural and urbanized domains. The pronounced gradient over birth order exhibits a ratio for initial births at 1.

05 in rural areas and climbing up steeply thenceforth. The

sex ratio in urban areas is 1. 13 for the initial birth and is as up as 1. 30 for the second birth (Kang ; Wang, 2003). So it appears that some urbanized Chinese are doing sex-selective abortion in their first pregnancy, given that they are only permitted one child.

In rural regions, however, because most couples are allowed to have a second child most especially if the first child is female. In instances where the second child is female, the gestation frequently “vanishes” to allow the couple to produce a male child. Sex-Selective Abortion, Infanticide and Abandonment What actually becomes of the missing female children is mostly a matter of speculation. While some of the female newborns are being adopted by neighboring kins or concealed to fend off reporting to authorities, others are, unfortunately, victims of infanticide or abandonment.In spite of ordinances against the exercise of prenatal sex finding for abortion, there has been an increase in the usage of ultrasound B machines, which were brought out in China in the year 1980’s; all county is furnished with high-quality machines innovative enough to distinguish the sex of a fetus (Zeng ; Ping, 1998). While the exact numbers are undoable to obtain, because of the prohibited nature of sex-selective abortion, the usage of ultrasound technology and resulting miscarriages are considered to answer for a great proportion of the marked reduction in female births (Merlie ; Raftery, 2000).

The Missing Social Safety Net in the Coming Years Although some of these outcomes have already, or are starting to happen, some of them have not yet achieved a degree of importunity. The fast reduction in birth rate, mixed with

balanced or rising life expectancy, has resulted to an expanding symmetry of elderly people and an increment in the ratio between elderly parents and grown-up children. The portion of the population over the age of 65 years was only 5 percent in the year 1982, and presently ranks at 7. 5 percent (World Bank, 2006).

In merely 30 years, people aged 65 and up are contrived to comprise 22 percent of the population in China. With the decrease of some, and omission of other social services provided by the state, these elderly people will have to depend on their children to financially provide for their retirement, given that children are supposed to be the chief providers of sustenance and care for their inactive parents, grandparents and parents-in-law. However, the so-called the “4:2:1 problem,” which states that every child delivered under the one-child policy will be responsible for two parents and four grandparents.With mostly one-child families having no national social security plan, this obligation will likely strike on the next Chinese generation which are incapable of fulfilling it. Other outcomes Among the more seeable and perturbing of the myriad other inadvertent effects of the one-child policy of China is the “Little Emperor” Syndrome, which pertains to some of the psychological outcomes for the children population. These kids grow up as the pride and joy of loving families and are starting to be called the spoiled generation.

Slightly associated to the Little Emperor Syndrome is the increasing number of obesity among Chinese children. Because of a merging of factors, including less number of children and the trend to spoil them, the diets of children have changed for the worse.

They are starting to follow the diets of the West, with damaging influences from fast food establishments. It is figured that by the year 2010, one out of five children in China will be obese and overweight (James, 2006).This diet and health alteration will have tremendous health effects in a country whose population has traditionally been recognized for its healthiness and good dietary patterns.

Some other effect of the sex asymmetry between the men and women in China is that it is progressively challenging for young Chinese men to find women to marry. This has constituted a trade in abducted women; 110,000 abducted women were released on a latest crackdown, and the gangs in China remain to traffic Vietnamese and North Korean women for hopeful Chinese husbands.Some sociologists contend that the rising sex ratio asymmetry, with men outnumbering the women, will sooner or later give rise to the growth in crime and vehemence, if the tendencies persist. Chinese police investigators pronounce that crime has indeed developed among the millions of marrying-age men. Retrospection: prevision in Policy Execution? Because of the present-day situation, it is fair to question whether the government of China expected any of these aftermaths prior to its execution of the one-child policy, and whether or not it had a program for handling them.

According to a Chinese demographer, Gu Baochang, who is also a professor at the University of Renmin in Beijing, the Chinese did in fact realize that they would have to consider some of these complications both in demographic and social state of the one-child policy. While they did not look at particular designs or policy reactions to address the effects,

Gu insists that the Chinese government possessed the assurance that it would be capable to handle the situation when it occurred. At the time the policy was enforced, the center was on strengthening and flourishing the economic system.It was foretold that a firm economy would sooner or later enable the government to react to the bad consequences of the one-child policy. The framework of Japan and South Korea: The Aging Population All over the world, populations are enduring longer, more satisfying lives than ever before as a consequence of the new approaches in contemporary healthcare and applied science. These advances in lifespan expectancy are shifting the demographic relationship between various generations of the population in all countries.

This section will analyze the modern schemes applied by Japanese and South Korean governments to fight the economic strain of the ever-changing demographics and aging populations. It is advocated that the Chinese government take the experiences of both the successes and failures of these nations into account as it seeks to present a possible answer to this difficult imbalance. Japan may render a profitable framework as it has already tried out with a few answers to the aging demographic changes. These programs are being supervised for productive results and applicability to other countries.Japan could also be a working model for China since there are several social similarities between the countries that will have an impact on how reforms are executed.

The Approach of Japan and South Korea to the Demographic Shift Japan is an utmost example of demographic shifting: the average years of Japanese citizens is presently the most age-old in the world being at 42. 9 years old

(Global Fund News, 2006). In reaction, the Japanese government immediately expanded the quantity of workers in the labour market by raising the government employee retirement range from 60 to 65 years old.The Japanese government and corporations have also sought to promote women to look for work and take part in the manpower in higher numbers (Kakuchi, 2005). To lure women into the labour market they have made attempts to tailor employment opportunities to women and ameliorate their employment conditions. Some illustrations of these modifications are increments in childcare leave and adaptable work-at-home alternatives.

These conveniences are also provided to those women who already have positions in an attempt to deter them from quitting (Kakuchi, 2005).In addition, Japan’s immigration investigators are advocating a policy of making its borders accessible to foreign workers to lessen the labor gap and sustain the elderly population (McNeill, 2006). This scheme of raising immigration is also actively being researched in Europe, where there is also an expected labor deficit. However, the acceptance of foreign employers will be harder to carry out in Japan than other reforms because of Japan's inherent national social pride, such immigration policies have encountered strong opposition by the public and the government has been careful in going along (McNeill, 2006).

In South Korea the vehemence has been about raising work opportunities, specifically for the aged; they are seeking to supply jobs in the health care service section that are “elderly to elderly” posts (Cheong-won, 2006). In the year 2006 South Korea aims to produce 33,000 fresh jobs in the healthcare section, a developing arena that is responsible with attending of the rapidly aging population. These positions in healthcare

center on the aged who require personalized aid, like those enduring Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic diseases (Cheong-won, 2006).By the year 2009 the country attempts on producing 300,000 jobs in this sector to hire the South Koreans over 60 years old who are progressively seeking employment to assist in the payment of bills (Cheong-won, 2006).

Besides the jobs made in the healthcare sector, the government is also promoting the aged to look for jobs in environmental conservation, traffic and parking ordinance, and care (Cheong-won, 2006). There is a joint campaign to produce fresh positions and open additional slots in these fields to hire a bigger number of the Korean senior citizens.These work opportunities are civil service positions that give benefits both to the individual elderly in the society at large, increasing the government’s effectiveness. Challenges to the usage of this example in China The health of the economy is the biggest difference between the Japanese and South Korean response to the age demographic shift. Last year the yearly proportionate revenue in Japan was around $36,000 (Mukherjee, 2006). This money is assessed by the government to put up funds necessary to keep up social welfare policies that sustain the developing elderly population (Mukherjee, 2006).

In South Korea the figured proportionate revenue in the year 2025 is $52,000, when 50 percent of the employed individuals will be either too aged or too young to work (Mukherjee, 2006). The normal predicted revenue of a South Korean is more than fourfold that of a Chinese employee in 2030, when the approximated per capita revenue will be $11,000 in China (Mukherjee, 2006). The median income in China will not hit the

levels requisite to maintain a tax revenue policy required for sustaining the aging population that will get to a 70 percent dependency ratio meaning, 10 workers sustaining 7 non-workers in 2050 (Mukherjee, 2006). RecommendationsChina expected this age imbalance as a consequence of the one-child policy; however, the country has not yet conducted measures to immediately fight the economic pains of an aging population with rising dependency ratios. Simulating programs supported those in Japan which promote women to get into the manpower in higher figures and step-up the retirement age may allow for a short-term remedy to the Chinese problem.

The advancement of South Korea should be managed too and the possibility of producing new occupations in the healthcare industry should be analyzed in China as a technique of raising employment, and thus incomes, of the aged.Social evaluations of Gender: Japan as an object lesson In several Asian nations women in the society have not yet reached equality with their male counterparts. In spite of the firm conventional orientation for males in Asian culture and its control on the choice for male children, in contrast to China, Japan supplies a model of a nation where women are not evenly respected by society; still there is not the prevalence of sex-selected abortions, or female children infanticide and abandonment (Banister, 2004).China could pick up from these shifts in forms of opinion and values that have happened in Japanese society since it has industrialized that at present lead in families opting for female children. New evaluations account that up to 75 percent of young families reviewed choose a female child over a boy (Efron, 1999).

The imperativeness to make

males has not been rid of altogether; in some rural areas families still have a longing to make at least one boy to formalize the mother’s part to the family (Efron, 1999).Nevertheless, some advancement has been laid down in terms of changing social values and thus, alternatives around preference of the gender of children. In Japan, there is an increasing favoring for female babies, but the grounds for this shift are not completely well-defined. There are even consumer manufacturers that have taken advantage on the preference for female children; furnishing books, advice, and an assortment of nonprescription medical supplies that will “set” the baby’s gender (Efron, 1999).Even though popular opinion conveys a penchant for daughters, there has been no perceptible shift in the birth rate ration of male to female.

Although abortions are legitimate in Japan, contrary to China, the exercise of sex- selected abortion is not executable since doctors are forbidden to reveal the baby's sex until such time an abortion would be made legal. There are families who have showed a preference for female children because a girl for a child is more likely to attend to her parents when they get old.This is an important issue for a lot of Japanese parents as their population reaches the retirement age and the demographics shift so that the employed members of society have a growing population of senior and young to sustain. Families in Japan might look at a female daughter as a supplementary form of social insurance to protect them and attend to them in aging years.

This is based on growing concerns that the Japanese pension system will be loaded down by

the retiring boomer generation. China confronts the same concerns for the succeeding century, when the demographic shift will lead to an overloaded working population.However, it is quite remote that Chinese families will make the same shift to choosing female children unless they also consider that females are useful for them whey they retire. Due to unending sex inequalities in China it is not well-defined whether or not female children are indeed, capable of caring for their aging parents better over the male children. Another ground for which people might not begin to appreciate female children equally with their male counterparts is that families may not realize the importance of depending on their children for sustenance if the state uses up that role in the time to come.However, if the state is undependable, and families view that daughters are actually better future caregivers, there may be the same shift in female children preferences by the Chinese parents.

The promptest process the Chinese government could conduct to fight the uneven sex birth rates is to thoroughly see and ascertain the usage of applied science to disclose the gender of fetuses. If women are not allowable to abort a fetus on the ground of the gender of the child, China may view a reduction in the sex imbalance at birth.However, cautiousness should be exercised because the concern of female infanticide and abandonment may still be present. To cure these dilemmas entirely will necessitate drastic modifications in social orientations that are likely to take place naturally as China goes on to develop and progress economically.

When women acquire more equality as members of society, parents will witness balance opportunities

happening for their child, no matter what the sex of the child is. Reactions of the Chinese Government to the effects of the One-Child PolicyAlthough China has profited economically from policy, an afterthought of those welfares is necessary because of the impact of the inadvertent aftermaths on China’s present social circumstances. The Chinese government has dealt with the inadvertent effects of the one-child policy in many ways and is thinking additional alternatives, such as further loosing or wiping out the one-child policy. Although each of these policies covers the inadvertent outcomes caused by the one-child policy, each has its unparalleled specialties and failings.

Loosening the One-Child PolicyProfessor Gu Baochang of Renmin University takes that one technique of dealing with the unforeseen effects of the one-child policy, such as the present sex imbalance concern, is by formally loosening the one-child policy. This would compel the central government to start allowing families, particularly in high concentrated regions like Beijing and Shanghai, to have more children. Granting families in high concentrated areas to bear more than one child would get the policy across the country to be normalized, since presently only those in rural regions are permitted to bear more than one child.Consequently, any liberalization of the one-child policy would fundamentally imply getting rid of the initial policy; permitting to have more than one birth opposes the one-child policy’s original construction and grants families nationwide access to the same two-child policy. Getting rid of the one-child policy could possibly repair the unpredicted effects in the long-run.

However, this would not be a workable short term response. This policy would not deal with the present sex imbalance concern, because

it does not encourage the birth of many female babies in order to counterbalance the 114:100 ratio.Rather, this policy would still compel the Chinese people to modify its profoundly sided preferences for male children over female. Likewise, it would not hold back the trafficking of women into China nor would it deal with the rise in negligence, abandonment, and infanticide of females.

In addition, loosening or wiping out the one-child policy would not right away repair other concerns, such as the ongoing social safety net problem, which is elaborated by the aging population. Two-Child PolicyThe two-child policy initially carried out in urbanized regions lets couples made up of only children from the one-child only generation to bear two kids. The aim of this policy is the avoidance of a striking population reduction while granting couples the possibility of having one male and one female child. It is considered that granting couples to have two children will deter them from discriminating against female children.

The concentration of this policy has mainly been in urbanized regions and has been productive up to now (Baochang, 2006).

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New