Introduction

Background

"One Child Per Family"

Additional Population Control Methods

Chinese Point of View for the Future

Population Control Today

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Pictures

The government in China after 1949 saw a large population as an asset to the country.  But they soon learned that it was not the asset that they envisioned.  As the population began to explode the government began to feel the strains that a large population puts on a country.  So in order to curbed their growing population, they began a large propaganda campaign in August of 1956 to promote birth control.  By the early 1960's when this campaign had little effect, they decided to take another route.  They began promoting late marriage and setting up birth control offices in the central government and in the government offices in the individual provinces.  This helped to decrease birth rates by 50% from 1963 - 1966 in the cities, but this decrease did not last ("Population Control Programs").

In the early 1970s, China once again tried to educate its people about birth control.  They began a nationwide birth control campaign.  They focused on both the urban areas and, this time, the rural areas as well.  There were population control offices in the urban areas, and in the rural areas, doctor's distributed to information about birth control to the people.  But even with all this effort, the government still did not openly state that population control was necessary in order to have economic growth and an improved standard of living ("Population Control Programs").

By 1979, China still had not been able to control the population growth that they were experiencing.  That is when they implemented one of their current population control policies.  This is the policy of "one child per family."  This policy required parents to get a birth certificate before their child was born.  If a family agreed to only have one child, then they would be rewarded.  If a family had more than one child they were required to pay a fine that was equal to 50% of their income or they might even lose their job.  If an unplanned pregnancy occurred or if a family did not have an approval for the pregnancy, then the pregnancy would be terminated.  This program was administered by local officials.  These officials must meet all population quotas or they may lose their job or certain privileges that they had ("Population Control and Consequences in China").

During the 1980's, China began a program of forced sterilization on people who had two children.  They made it mandatory for all people who had two children to have tubal ligations or vasectomies.  In 1983, the forced sterilizations and abortions accounted for 35% of China's birth control methods ("Population Control and Consequences in China").

Another form of "birth control" that began to surface was female infanticide.  Because of the "one child policy," many parents wanted their one child to be a boy, so they would kill any baby girls that they had in order to be able to continue trying for a boy (Richman).  Much of this want for a boy came from the idea that in China a boy is expected to provide for his parents in old age.  This makes a son much more attractive to some parents in that culture.  But this breeding of sons is creating a much larger problem.  It is creating a large population of men that will never be able to marry.  In China, there are 8 million adult males that will never marry.  Older men are stealing the women that the younger men would marry, because they do not have any women to marry.  Girls are being married at 12 and 13 years old.  Women are being kidnapped, stolen, or bought and are then being sold as wives.  They are also fears that the men who cannot find a wife will band together and cause a revolt (Saini).

The Chinese government and others in China view their population control policies to be necessary.  A Chinese demographer stated, "China should continue its state policy of population control in the first half of this century if the country is to enjoy sustainable development."  Tian Xueyuen is a professor of population at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.  Tian believes that China should not become lax on it population control policies.  He believes that with continued implementation, China will reach a zero growth rate by the middle of the century.  By that point, China would have a population of 1.6 billion and a per captia GDP of $3,000 - $4,000("China's Population Control a Must for Development").

Today, the population control policies are not quite as harsh as they were in the early 1980's.  Many families are choosing to have one are no children, simply because of the lifestyles of today.  As China has become more industrialized and "westernized" more couples, especially urban couples, are choosing to have children later and to only have one child.  This is a choice that they are making for themselves, and not just because of the "one child" policy.  There are couples who are choosing to have more than one child.  These couples find that they can do this by paying a fine or bribing the official in their area (Faison).  As China continues to depend less on agriculture and opens up more to the western world, their population control methods may become less and less necessary, as the people choose to control the population on their own.

http://tibet.ca/wtnarchive/2000/6/13_7.html

http://www.pccofsfv.com/china_population.htm

“China’s Population Control a Must for Development.” (2002). Online.  Internet. 16 Jun 2003. Available:             http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200210/22/eng20021022_105475.shtml.

Faison, Seth. “Chinese are Happily Breaking the ‘One Child’ Rule.” New York Times. 17 Aug 1997. Online. Internet. 16 Jun 2003. Available: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/chinpop.htm.

“Population Control and Consequences in China.” Online. Internet. 16 Jun 2003. Available:             http://www.maps.unomaha.edu/Peterson/funda/Sidebar/ChinaPop.html.

“Population Control Programs.” (1987): Online. Internet. 16 Jun 2003. Available:                               http://www.1upinfo.com/country-guide-study/china/china55.html.

Richman, Sheldon. “China’s Coercive Birth Control.” Human Events 17 July 1993: 14.

Saini, Shanam. “Born to Die.” Humanist July/August 2002: 25-27.