The Horrors of Chinese Orphanages
A young boy spent four torturous years of neglect and abuse in a bed in a state-run orphanage before dying of starvation at the age of eleven. In order to free her husband from being held hostage in government custody, a pregnant woman turned herself in to the authorities only to have them force her to have an
abortion because she did not have legal permission to give birth. Both of these stories, as harsh as they seem, happen all the time in China, where overpopulation is the number one problem.
Throughout much of its modern history, China has struggled with the problem of overpopulation. There have been many attempts to control the rising population, or to find a way to fit the needs of the people with its resources. Currently, the Chinese government has instituted a compulsory family planning
program aimed to curb the population growth. So far it seems to be working. However, this strategy is certainly accompanied by some severe side effects, and the children of China are the victims. Skyrocketing numbers of abortions (some forced), infanticide, and orphanages overrun with unwanted children are prevalent.
In 1995, China’s population reached 1.2 billion, making them the first country ever to surpass a billion people. Their insubstantial natural resources and economy just can’t keep up with the rapid population growth. Although many may not view China as being a member of what is commonly referred to as the Third World, social aspects such as overpopulation and its possible economic repercussions are factors that make China a country that can hold Third World status.
China’s determination to remain completely self-sufficient and it’s extremely unbalanced population distribution (the vast majority of the population of China resides in the eastern coastal areas) only add to this problem. The tendency of China to shut out the outside world so as only to rely on it’s own
resources has a long history. Maintaining dignity as a
collective group has long been a part of their culture. The conflict of political and economic interests that occurs between China (one of the last few countries to continue to employ a communist economy) and the major capitalist nations also deters
those nations from lending their resources to alleviate some of the problems. The unbalanced population distribution is due to the limited amount of livable territory in China. Most of the land consists of valleys, plateaus, and mountains, which prove to be undesirable conditions for living. The results of these circumstances are that many people in China are suffering from hunger, poverty, inadequate housing, education, transportation, and medical care.
The government’s solution to the problem of overpopulation is to regulate the growth of families. They put harsh restrictions on family planning, advocating delayed marriages, requiring that couples obtain a permit before starting a family, and restricting them to one child per couple (two children for some rural areas).
After the first child is born, a couple must either be
sterilized or use contraceptive methods. If a couple becomes pregnant a second time, the pregnancy is usually terminated. Supposedly, this practice is voluntary, but since the people who ignore it suffer heavy fines and/or lose their government jobs and housing, and since most of the citizens rely greatly on these things, it could easily be considered forced. Aside from the loss of government support, there has been evidence of abuse and corruption in the government concerning pregnant women being forced to have abortions. This occurs in incidents such as the
woman who’s husband was held hostage until she agreed to have her pregnancy terminated.
An alternative to terminating unauthorized pregnancies is to place the children in government-run orphanages. As a result, orphanages in China are short-staffed, employ untrained workers, and are overwhelmed with children. And since Chinese couples who already have one child are not allowed to adopt another, the chances of the abandoned children leaving the system are slim to none. There have been investigations conducted concerning allegations that children are systematically beaten, raped, neglected, and starved to death in these orphanages. Some say
that sickly, handicapped, and unattractive children are
specifically neglected and left to die in order to keep orphanage populations low, because the typical child-to-worker ratio is twenty or more children to one worker.
The Chinese government (which has been known to be full of corruption) officially denies any allegations that the conditions of the orphanages are as deplorable as described. In the mid-nineties, True Visions Productions aired “Return to the Dying Rooms,” a television documentary recording the conditions of a
few of the orphanages around the city of Shanghai. The footage they obtained during their visits was appalling. Children were tied to chairs or cots all day. The older children beat the younger children, with little supervision or consequences from
the workers. Many of the infants looked emaciated and lifeless. The government’s response to the documentary was simply a weak denial. They claimed that the production crew chose a few isolated incidents to create a sensationalized story in hopes of
denigrating China. They also asserted that the conditions depicted in the documentary were fabricated and are not considered legal by Chinese law.
The deplorable conditions these children have to live (and in many cases, die) in are evidence that, although the population growth has slowed, there are greater problems that have yet to be dealt with. Some of these problems are culture-related. For instance, in the Chinese culture, baby boys are given far better
status than baby girls. In theory, since couples are only allowed one child, they most certainly would want that one child to be a beautiful, flawless baby boy. In China, it is illegal for a doctor to inform couples of the gender of the baby until it is born. Many times, if the baby is born a girl, the couple will
abandon the infant at a government run orphanage or even commit infanticide. Also, despite the law against gender identification before birth, thousands of ultrasound machines are sold to private individuals in China, resulting in an even higher number of abortions. Even China’s male/female ratio reflects this trend. There are 120 boys for every 100 girls, leaving many Chinese men to grow up single and without families of their own. Measures must be made to increase the acceptance and status of females in the Chinese culture before their female population will begin to proportion itself to the male population.
Given the “one child” rule and China’s cultural preference for boys, it’s easy to see how the seemingly beneficial family planning programs are creating catastrophic problems of their own. It is highly plausible that there truly are many thousands
of children, silently languishing in conditions such as the ones depicted in the documentary. This is true whether or not the Chinese government decides to acknowledge it. Although overpopulation is a serious problem for China, they must rethink how they can curb the human growth rate in the most compassionate way possible. The thousands of innocent children abandoned by their parents at these repulsive “dying rooms,” deserve to have happy, successful, and healthy lives.
