Running Head: SOCIETY ATTITUDE ON CHILDBEARING

Chinas One Child per Couple Policy

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SOCIETY ATTITUDE ON CHILDBEARING

The population increase is an extremely serious concern facing the modern world.
However, only few countries have responded to this challenge, including China. Basically, the
population increase is a significant apprehension that touches upon the existence and growth of
the Chinese society, the success or failure of Chinas modernization and sustainable
development. The population has put tension on the limited resources available in China.
Established in 1979, Chinas one-child policy meant to limit couples to one child (Li and
Dartmouth College. 2013). The key purpose of establishing this policy was to curb a then-rising
population and constrict the demands of basic needs as well as other resources. This policy was
functional only to couples pf the nations ethic Han majority. Other ethnic minorities were
permitted to bear more than one child, along with rural couples if their first born was a girl. Over
the last 35 years, the policy is estimated to have minimized population growth in China by as
much as 300 million individuals. Bearing one child has really encouraged most of the people to
migrate to the cities, leaving less people to farm in rural areas (Xinran, Tyldesley and Dobson,
2015).
Now that millions of families without children in China are young adults, a special act
permits millions of couple to bear more than one child legally. For instance, if a couple is made
up of two spouses without brothers or sisters, then they may bear two children of their own,
hence preventing too dramatic of a population decline (Whyte, Feng and Cai, 2015). Since the
implementation of the Chinas one child policy, noticeable changes have been taking place in the
society and economic development. Chinas reaction towards child bearing has always
comprised the two phases of controlling the population size and refining the population quality in
respect to health and education (BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Case study: China, 2015). This reaction
has resulted to both positive and negative consequences for individual families and for society as

SOCIETY ATTITUDE ON CHILDBEARING

a whole. The consequences include increased access of education to all people, improved
healthcare and childcare provided to families, gender discrimination and economic development.
The policy of one child in china has disconnected women from regular child bearing after
marriage and the heavy family burden, thus offering women with more prospects to learn and
take part in social as well as economic development activities. As a result, there have been a
noticeable improvement of the Chinese womens status in social and economic issues as well as
their families. From the time when Chinas enacted this policy, the advancement in national
science and technology, economy, social welfare and public health has facilitated in changing
peoples perception of fertility and in decreasing the birth rate (Fong, 2015). Even though the
policy has been crowned with success in the past decades, there is still imbalance in development
in various areas, high birth rate in others, and fertility instability in many regions. In fact, the
society is also subjecting gender discrimination because there is unbalanced sex structure of
Chinas population, which influences significant features of the nations demography. Gender
discrimination will always affect the society in terms of participation, economic development as
it hinders efficiency, productivity and economic growth while destructing the sustainable
advancement of Chinese society (Bhalla and Luo, 2013).
Since China is a country with over one-fifth of the worlds population, it really
understand the responsibility it possess in stabilizing population increase and vital role it should
play. One-child policy as an effective intervention to Chinas population increase is more than
just concern towards the welfare of the Chinese society and future generation, indeed, it is a
responsibility meant to stabilize the world population. However, this policy should at least be
modified to minimize the rate of gender discrimination in the society. The international
community and other countries need to work together to solve the challenge of population

SOCIETY ATTITUDE ON CHILDBEARING

increase experiencing individual countries and the entire world in general. Working for the
common interests and individual interests of each country, this will enhance development and
growth in each nation and throughout human society.

SOCIETY ATTITUDE ON CHILDBEARING

References
BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Case study: China. (2015). Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2016, from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/population/managing_population_r
ev3.shtml
Bhalla, A. S., & Luo, D. (2013). Poverty and exclusion of minorities in China and India.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fong, M. (2015). One Child. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Li, B., & Dartmouth College. (2013). Inside China's one-child policy: An oral and narrative
history.
Whyte, M., Feng, W., & Cai, Y. (2015). Challenging Myths about Chinas One-Child Policy.
The China Journal, 74, 144-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/681664
Xinran, J., Tyldesley, E., & Dobson, D. (2015). Buy me the sky: The remarkable truth of China's
one-child generations.