China's One-Child Population Policy

China’s one child policy was established by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to slow the rise of communist China’s exponential population growth. China is the world's most populous country and its population will only continue to rise unless something is done about it. Some find it harsh and inhumane to limit the number of offspring, but China is doing this for its people. An unchecked population growth puts and enormous strain on resources and hampers economic development. China’s one child policy was necessary as it was what was stopping China from becoming over populated, but in today's society it is no longer necessary due as people acknowledge the fact that they cannot care for many children, it is voluntary because of the many choices given to the people by the government, and is not an effective policy on account of the many negative problems that began to rise. As mentioned before, the one-child policy’s main goal is to regulate the rapidly growing population of China and it has done a great job of reaching that goal. However this policy is no longer necessary as modernization of China has changed people’s ideals on the way life. China economy was once severely underdeveloped and as said before, an unchecked population growth puts and enormous strain on resources and hampers economic development, but this is no longer the case. China has been developing and improving over the years. Even so, incomes are still not very high (Doc A). In order to provide the best of the best for their child, couples are choosing to only have one child. People are beginning to get used to the policy. A mother of a four-year-old daughter had said, “One child is enough…It wouldn’t matter what my financial situation was or what the government regulations were, I’d still only want one child ,” (Doc C). Here, it shows that even without the policy, many of the Chinese people will still have only one child, which favors the government in terms of slowing the population growth. Also many people began to wait longer to have kids with improving social and economic circumstances, which have reduced fertility rate. For example, Thailand and South Korea are also modernization has led women to having fewer children, yet they do not have any family planning policies (Doc C). These are some of the reasons why the one-child policy is seen to be unnecessary.
One the other hand even though China's one-child policy is no longer necessary, it has been a completely voluntary. The government highly advocates the policy to their people to prevent overpopulation. Married couples can choose to have just a single child or more. However, there are consequences that follow if you choose to have more. As an example, parents are forced to pay fines that are up to $2,000, which is about a year’s wage (Doc D). When pregnant with the second child, the people are also given a choice to undergo abortion. Consequences are not the only things offered by the government, but they also give rewards and bonuses to those who are loyal to the policy. Such as, granting “a longer maternity leave with a full pay”, special placements of the child into nursery and school, privileges in medical care and employment, and many more (Doc A). Another way that the Chinese government puts effort into publicizing the policy is to provide married couples with free birth control counseling. Citizens are given a variety of directions to look at regarding how many children they want. Couples may have more than one child, but it is favorable to have one due to the many benefits that come with being a parent of one.
Moving along, China's one-child policy hasn't been completely effective, there were several problems that inventors did not see. Couples in China rarely want girls who have few mean to support their families. Many couples would rather have a boy than a girl, this has caused a great shortage in females versus males which is a problem on its own. (Doc B). A major imbalance is forming, with millions more men than women filling the ranks of China’s population. Aside from that, families are being torn apart. With people desperate for a boy, some people have resorted to kidnapping. Young boys are stolen and sold to people who want a male heir and authorities offer little help (Doc D). Every year thousands of boys are kidnapped and separated from their original family and often leaving their parents unable to rest. The one child policy has disrupted Chinese society both socially and economically and give rise to a society of self-centered people who lacked the benefits of growing up in the competitive environment of siblings (Doc B).
To put it briefly, China's one-child policy is unnecessary and ineffective, even though it may be voluntary. Society is changing and people have came to realize the benefits that come with having fewer child. Women have began to wait longer to have children which have reduced the number of kids they may have. There is no longer the necessity to have to limit the number have children people may have when they what is best and simply have gotten used to the policy. If China's one-child policy is abandoned, the number of kidnappings and girls being aborted would decrease due to the fact that couples can have more than one child. Also With kids having sibling, many of them won't grow up to be self centered and China's society would further improve.