Essay/Term paper: China

Essay, term paper, research paper:  World History

China


For Chinese people what is the advantage of having many children? They
provide many hands to work and ensure that the land will be worked when the
parents are old.

In the early seventies the population of China was a little under a billion.
That is why in 1972 the Chinese government decided to implant the "wan xi shao"
family planning program. This program allowed families to have no more than two
children. By the late seventies apparently the Chinese population was still
growing. Thus in 1979 the government formed a new policy that allowed families
to have no more than one child. Because of this program it is known that women
who give birth to daughters are abused by their husbands for not having a boy.

One of the problems with such a program is that it is difficult to enforce.
This is why the government provides positive economic incentives to families,
such as, preferential medical care and education. They are also given allocation
of housing and land, also larger pensions. For those families who disobey the
result is a reduction of 10 percent in monthly earnings and restrictions of food
supplies and education.

The question the Chinese people have to ask themselves now is what will
happen in the years that follow? The statistics show us that in the middle of
the 21st century there will be a disadvantageous distribution of the Chinese
population according to age. There will be a small group of workers that will
have to support a large group of retired people.

The only way China can maintain a constant population of 1.2 billion is if
married couples average less than two children for much of the 1990's.