China’s One-Child Policy and Its Effects 

In the late 1970’s China came up with a plan in order to solve their overpopulation and all the issues that came with it. This came to be known as the one child policy where China rationalized parenthood and persuaded their citizens that having more than once child would prove to be detrimental for the future generations due to the vast amount of resources needed. Decades later the country was successful as it reduced the growth of the population exponentially but this has brought other issues to light both economically and socially. 

 Throughout the article A Silver Lining to China’s One-Child Policy, the author’s purpose seems to be to inform the reader about the side effects of the one child policy has had in the past decades. She especially focuses on one specific town called  Rudong, one of the first places that implemented the one- child policy. Decades later the town is facing a disproportionate amount of elderly people with no one to take care of them. This leaves the government and their programs to step in and take care of that generation. This will prove to be even worse in the end due to the financial strains old age homes take. The article is from “ The Financial Times” and seems to try to be optimistic about the situation but it also indicates that there seem to be more negative effects than positive ones in China’s society. The audience could be anyone trying to learn about the side effects of China’s One Child policy, especially the younger generations who now have the choice to have more than one child. The author is Patti Waldmeir seems like a reliable source due to her experience with The Financial Times. She has been the US editor of the Financial Times and has spent 8 years in China covering stories from there. This gives her the background and first hand knowledge about the problems that China is facing. The author’s tone seems to be critical like she doesn’t agree with the policy and the harmful effects that it is starting to unleash in Chinese societies. This can be seen by her language. An example would bear her diction when describing the elderly generation as a “silver tsunami of old people”. In this her use of the word tsunami, a destructive force of nature is to accent the bad side effects the policy has. The medium for this article was a database called Gale Academic One File and the genre is an international  newspaper that is owned by a Japanese company called Nikkei. 

Even with the measures put in place in earlier decades China still has one of the largest populations in the world. Their government claims however that without their intervention through the one child policy the population size would have put extreme pressures and their resources and natural environment.  In the video “Enforcing the Former One-Child Policy in China, One Official Reflects on His Role” the reporter interviews a family planning commission official and a poor family that has struggled to fit in their neighborhood due to their support of the policy in the past. Although her tone throughout the video is unbiased due to her need to report on the subject matter, she shows disapproval of the policy through her language in the questions she asked. An example of this would be when she ask is his implementation of the one child policy “make him feel quite unpopular in his town” When interviewing the official for family planning, her tone is more official, just wanting to get the simple facts and look at the negative side effects through the eyes of the government. These side effects they worry about are that the new couples don’t even want to have one child. This would prove to be fatal as China’s economy is growing exponentially. Similarly, the policy has created a huge gender imbalance as people are more willing to abort a girl so that they can have a boy to carry on their family legacy. On the other hand when interviewing the family her questions were more personal, trying to get an insight on how the policy has impacted the average Chinese family. She asks whether they would consider having a second child and if they had wished that the one child policy would have been banned earlier in their life. She also asks how their support for the law in the past had caused them trouble with neighbors who would beg their fellow neighbors for money so that they could pay the fee to have another child. The audience that would view this specific video would be those wanting to get a more personal view at the effects the one child policy has had on the Chinese people. The medium for this video was also a database called  “Gale Academic One File” and the genre is a video interview from BBC Studios America. There was no information on the reporter after doing extensive research on the BBC website. The purpose seems to be to show both sides of the coin. This means that she asked both government officials what their concerns were in a more broad aspect and then focused specifically on the actual families that are experiencing these laws put by the government.

However, the group that has suffered the most through the policy has been the women of China. When regulating childbirths women have been stripped of their voice with matters relating to their body. Nina Somera touches these issues in her article “Disturbing the descendants of the dragon: one child policy and women in China” Nina Somera is a postgraduate student at the University of the Philippines where she is studying comparative Literature. She is also the media, information, communications, and Campaigns Associate of Isis International. The article seems to be aimed towards women. This is seen by the fact the publishers is a women’s feminist oraganization magazine that informs about developments in women’s rights and has been doing so since the 1970s.  Although the Chinese government has been successful in controlling their population growth and economic development it has all been at the cost of women. The purpose of the article has been to send some light on how the women have suffered the past decades under the one child- policy. An example would be how abortion is “recognized as a complementary measure” and has even been given free of charge. Along with this however have been incidents where abortions have been carried out regeradless of mother’s consent or not. In rural areas especially, abortions are common when the fetus is a girl creating a gender population inbalance. The gender inbalance has increased kidnappings and trafficking as well as prostitution which increases chances of HIV-AIDS among the Chinese population.  Some women have even given secret births to their daughters, not registering them as citizens. Hand in hand with abortion are sterilization of women. The government even gives incentives for those who undergo the process at their own free will. However, to couples who can transfer “congenital defects” to their babies are forced to be sterilized. Throughout the articles the author’s tone seems to be that of concern with the various ways that the one child policy will affect China in the near future and her diction also mirrors this. An example of this would be to end the article with “the cauldron continues to boil, shaking the mighty dragon adorning its cover” implying that although the society is somehow managing to function regardless of the gender imbalance, social tensions, and health concerns, in the end it is only a matter of time when everything breaks down.  The medium for this article was also a database called “Gale Academic One File” and the genere was a feminist magazine that covers various topics around the world on women’s rights. 

Another effect can be seen on how the family size influences children’s education. In this instance the one child policy has had a positive effect. Education is very important as it paves the way for future generations. Without having an educated youth, the country cannot move forward economically or in any other way. In the academic journal “The Effect of Family Size on Children’s Education: Evidence from the Fertility Control Policy in China” we see just how having smaller families have proved to help the youth in China in their education. The source was written by Ying Shen who is part of the Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. Her resource was published for volume seven of “Frontiers of Economics in China”. The medium for this article was also a database called  “Gale Academic One File” and
the genre was a scholarly source. The audience for this research would be anyone interested in the effects that family size has on the education of children, especially in China where the size of families are regulated. When having a smaller family it has been shown that children will do better in school. The diction of this source is very formal due to the amount of data and research that went into this specific topic. This can be seen when she is explaining her studies and how she went about doing the actual experiment. In it she says “ By using both cross sectional and time series variation in family size, I control for other time varying factors that would potentially influence the outcomes” The authors tone is informative as her main porpuse is to educate on her topic of how the size of family during the one child policy effects kids academics. This is shown through her many graphs and statistics that can be found in the source to back up her claim. With these studies she wants to show that generally the smaller size tends to help the children’s education because it allocates more resources to them both n school and at home. However, she does state that considering her data the relationship will still be “inconclusive” because education can be affected by the amount of resources that will be available within a family but also it has been shown that children learn from each other and therefore having siblings can also help them succeed in school. 

In conclusion the One Child Policy has had several negative effects in the past decades when it has been implemented. In its core the policy did what it was supposed to but introduced other issues like a great gender imbalance between men and women because most families will prefer to have a boy as their only offspring compared to a girl. It has stripped women of their reproductive rights by giving men the control to abortions and family planning. As well as pitted families against one another when they wanted to have more than one child but could not afford it. The one positive effect has been however that children have increased opportunity to do better in school and have more resources available to them by being an only child. 

Works Cited 

Shen, Ying. “The Effect of Family Size on Children’s Education: Evidence from the Fertility Control Policy in China.” Frontiers of Economics in China, vol. 12, no. 1, 2017, p. 37+. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A525232450/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=d56f9285. Accessed 20 Sept. 2019

Somera, Nina. “Disturbing the descendants of the dragon: one child policy and women in China.” Women in Action, Apr. 2008, p. 58+. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A180553158/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=ba9adab6. Accessed 20 Sept. 2019

Enforcing the Former One-Child Policy in China, One Official Reflects on His Role.” Enforcing the Former One-Child Policy in China, One Official Reflects on His Role, 17 Feb. 2017. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/FXJOAT754649585/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=e4538b4f. Accessed 20 Sept. 2019

 

Waldmeir , Patti. “A Silver Lining to China’s One-Child Policy.” Shibboleth Authentication Request, The Financial Times, 27 Oct. 2015, https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition&docId=GALE|A432793769&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&contentSet=GALE|A432793769&searchId=R1&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true.