Wasn't the famine of the Great Leap Forward caused by an earlier exhortation to reproduce, reproduce, reproduce?! Then there wasn't enough food due to interference in farming, and the artificially overly large population. Next, to make up for the generation which saw folks having 7 or 8 siblings, the generation born in the 1980's until recently wasn't allowed to have a single sibling. Has the CCP learned nothing? Its interference with nature is what caused these problems!
4
I find it ironic the Chinese government is offering many services to parents to encourage child birth that is too low, while in the U.S. 50% of children live in poverty, most out of wedlock, little safety net and the birthrate soars.
2
15% of American children live in poverty, not 50%. Get a grip.
Again China chooses to order rather than adapt. Both methods have their merits, sure, but eventually you come to a brick wall you can't shout down, and then you'd better have spent some time learning to climb.
In the US we have politicians trying to regulate women's access to contraception and abortion, so seeing the Chinese getting involved in these reproductive issues isn't really surprising, but it is inappropriate, as it is here.
1
The Communist Party is a disciplined organization where party members may be and or disciplined for leaking Party secretes, and directives that come down from above are expected to be followed. This letter has more of the character of a bureaucratic utterance of someone trying to act as a self-proclaimed leader concerned about shrinking population.
The problem is universal in developed nations, where women have other options than motherhood, including the USA and Western Europe, The difference is that China, like Japan, does not have offsetting immigration and as article mentions, raising a child is very costly in terms of educational costs beyond ninth grade where public financed education mostly stops.
It will be interesting to see how China deals with the issue overtime as it does have economic implications.
The problem is universal in developed nations, where women have other options than motherhood, including the USA and Western Europe, The difference is that China, like Japan, does not have offsetting immigration and as article mentions, raising a child is very costly in terms of educational costs beyond ninth grade where public financed education mostly stops.
It will be interesting to see how China deals with the issue overtime as it does have economic implications.
This is the socially responsible thing to do. A low birth rate allows egalitarians to use the economy as an excuse for pluralism, and therefore is an affront to ethnic nationalism. This thinking is not sufficiently criticized in the West.
The wealthy, civilized nations of the world should offer incentives, and perhaps even legislate a mandatory birth rate in order to defeat concentrate ethnic monopolies on power around the world, and create a more hostile environment for leftists in their societies.
The wealthy, civilized nations of the world should offer incentives, and perhaps even legislate a mandatory birth rate in order to defeat concentrate ethnic monopolies on power around the world, and create a more hostile environment for leftists in their societies.
Urging people to procreate is one of the most stupid and damaging things any leader can do. Nearly all of mankind's most serious problems are the direct or indirect result of overpopulation. Unemployment, poverty, overcrowded prisons, food shortages, water shortages, energy shortages, housing shortages, deforestation, mass extinction, pollution, and global warming are all caused by or exacerbated by overpopulation. The situation can only get worse as the global population continues to soar, resources become increasingly scarce, and jobs are made obsolete by technology.
China is the only country in the world that has ever made a serious attempt to implement a one-child policy, and that effort was extremely successful. The country still struggles to meet its energy demands, cope with severe pollution, and overcome a variety of other problems that come with being the world's most populous country, but the situation would have been far worse if not for the large reduction in fertility rates that resulted from the one-child policy. That type of policy, in conjunction with free access to birth control, should be the norm across the globe. Overpopulation is the greatest threat to the long-term survival of our species, and sanctions should be imposed on countries that refuse to implement a one-child policy -- just as we impose sanctions on countries that engage in other forms of dangerous behavior
China is the only country in the world that has ever made a serious attempt to implement a one-child policy, and that effort was extremely successful. The country still struggles to meet its energy demands, cope with severe pollution, and overcome a variety of other problems that come with being the world's most populous country, but the situation would have been far worse if not for the large reduction in fertility rates that resulted from the one-child policy. That type of policy, in conjunction with free access to birth control, should be the norm across the globe. Overpopulation is the greatest threat to the long-term survival of our species, and sanctions should be imposed on countries that refuse to implement a one-child policy -- just as we impose sanctions on countries that engage in other forms of dangerous behavior
5
Truer words were never spoken, SSG. Great ideas and well stated,
2
This had to come. Before long, there will be more people retired in China that are working. That is not economically or otherwise sustainable. This problem cannot be cured overnight. It will take generations to get things back in balance.
What was the consequence for parents of twins or other multiples born under the one-child rule?
It's short sighted that China is rolling back its one child policy. The biosphere desperately needs a planet-wide one child policy.
5
Chinese social engineering (regarding the number of children a couple may have, moving people to cities, etc.) seems so clumsy and heavy-handed. I cannot help wondering what would happen if these dips in population in certain parts of the world (China, Japan, Europe) were embraced as a way to live more sustainably, and world resources were shared globally, rather than hoarded by nations, including the U.S. Could we perhaps solve the refugee crisis and create meaningful reductions in climate change?
2
The Once Child Policy was a great success and a necessity if China didn't want to become the hopeless mess that India and most of the 3rd World have become. China has real universal education and health care and it will only get better. The reason Chinese are not having larger families now is the unequal distribution of wealth. Fifteen percent of the people have all the money and the rest work for slave wages. The officials who are calling for more children are self serving, they want the supply of labor to increase so they can keep wages low. Another 75 years of One Child Policy and the Chinese population would be the same as the USA. They would be as rich as us, maybe richer. They certainly wouldn't be doing our grunt work.
3
Since the 1970s, the Chinese have made it very clear that girls are "spilled milk" and boys are far more important. Now, suddenly, girls are important. Good luck to all those male bare beaches trying to find a woman much less one willing to have kids. One thing this article does not address but is very much a reality is how women in China like their new found independence and economic strength. That has a lot to do with the continuing low birth rate.
2
The elites racking in the riches from the country don't want to run out of the cheap labor.
1
China did the only right thing (yes, there were excesses) for a then starving and rapidly increasing population. Not only did they stem population growth, they also freed women to get an education, to have a career. I understand the temporary bottleneck for the large older generation.
It probably is a relief to some that they can have a second child - but coercing them when climate change, pollution and food production suggest we are too many on too small a planet? (Of course this is a much more urgent message to cultures/religions encouraging endless reproduction)
It probably is a relief to some that they can have a second child - but coercing them when climate change, pollution and food production suggest we are too many on too small a planet? (Of course this is a much more urgent message to cultures/religions encouraging endless reproduction)
3
Assuming it doesn't become unhinged, the Chinese governance model of private/public totalitarian hegemonic capitalism combined with eventually global military projection, should assure long-term successful economic colonialism that will outsource any domestic shortfalls involving people, technology, industry, agribusiness and other economic inputs as well as attendant resources from land and sea.
Every day we read of millions of migrants from Africa, west Asia and south of the US border dying to get to Europe or the US. Most of them are young. The birth rates in their areas of origin are huge. The living conditions are horrible. Many advocate moving them to Germany since they have a lower birth rate. One wonders why this flow is not directed to China as well. One wonders why the article is not more complimentary of the Chinese government, which, against huge resistence, forced its citizens into the 21st century. Had China not instituted stringent population control today it would be much like the Sahel, Somalia, Eritrea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India where the only future for the masses is to get out. China is the only nation that faced up to the biggest problem of mankind, patriarchal hyperfecundity. We will learn the lesson either the easy way or the hard way. As I look at the headlines it looks like the we are going to learn the hard way.
5
China like Japan could use immigrants to balance out declining population but neither has a language universality than would favor that approach, other factors aside.
See Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization by Parag Khanna for glum forecast on the population issue in a heating world. He has both India and China as un-populated lands, along with others, in the world’s future by the beginning of the next century.
See Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization by Parag Khanna for glum forecast on the population issue in a heating world. He has both India and China as un-populated lands, along with others, in the world’s future by the beginning of the next century.
The 'one child per family' policy meant that families could focus all their resources on one child, often sending them to college. Now, many fertile females are more interested in career than establishing a family. Western countries have alleviated this issue to some extent with immigration (and higher levels of population growth in recent immigrant populations). But, in China, the Han Chinese are particularly distrustful of non-Han Chinese and do not welcome immigrants. This means, that in time, there will not be enough young Chinese in the economy to support a larger, aging population. Moreover, as the rate of pay rises China is losing its position as the least expensive provider for many items. The combination is fatal, China's decline is all but assured.
Astounding. China is the most populated country in the world. The most polluted of large economies. And now the communist party, after years of fighting population growth with forced abortions and big brother forcing neighbors to report on neighbors when one tried to have more than one child, is demanding that 'communist party members' have 2 children. Astounding.
1
There are all those untold millions of refugees around the world who would give anything and everything to come to China, to bolster the population and have a stable, if highly regulated, place to live. A simple decree that they could only marry Chinese women and, voila! within a few generations, China's population implosion is solved.
Then, of course, there's Japan, where this would never, ever, work...
Then, of course, there's Japan, where this would never, ever, work...
1
Interesting times are coming for China, consider:
A birth rate below replacement rate for the entire country. This along with reports of Chinese women delaying marriage to focus on careers, seems to indicate a growing independence in both thought and action of the people.
Growing reports of instability in their economy.
A possible housing shortage in the major cities.
Reports of major environmental damage due to the rapid industrialization.
In spite of attempts to keep the internet out, the world and its diverse opinions and facts, keeps creeping into the Chinese consciousness.
All of this in my book points to demands by the Chinese people for more of a voice in how their society is run, because they are not happy with the results achieved by the Party so far. When the Chinese decided to modernize, the party thought they could do so while maintaining control.
It appears that the Chinese Communist Party is about to learn the meaning of the Arab saying: "Do not let a Camel stick its nose into your tent."
A birth rate below replacement rate for the entire country. This along with reports of Chinese women delaying marriage to focus on careers, seems to indicate a growing independence in both thought and action of the people.
Growing reports of instability in their economy.
A possible housing shortage in the major cities.
Reports of major environmental damage due to the rapid industrialization.
In spite of attempts to keep the internet out, the world and its diverse opinions and facts, keeps creeping into the Chinese consciousness.
All of this in my book points to demands by the Chinese people for more of a voice in how their society is run, because they are not happy with the results achieved by the Party so far. When the Chinese decided to modernize, the party thought they could do so while maintaining control.
It appears that the Chinese Communist Party is about to learn the meaning of the Arab saying: "Do not let a Camel stick its nose into your tent."
1