One Child Policy DBQ

One Child Policy
By: Mikaela Basso p.6

The one child policy was established in China in 1979 because the population was growing extremely fast. The one child policy is a law that prevents families from having more than one child. It only applies to the Han Chinese ethnic group, which makes up 90% of the
Chinese population. Sibling­less parents are allowed to have two children. Some Chinese people are in favor of the one child policy (OCP) because their lives were made easier. Other people felt it was not fair to have their rights taken away. I think that the OCP was not a good idea because there’s not enough information to support that is was a good idea. The intention of the OCP was to lower the fertility rate in China and prevent overpopulation. The OCP did lower the fertility rate but caused other problems. For example, in Document B it says that generations after the law was passed, there wouldn't be enough young people to care for the older. The generations will be too apart and then the elderly will not have enough people to replace them or care for them. Other countries that never have had the OCP had their fertility rate lower. In 1970 women used to have around 5.8 average kids, and it lowered to 2.7 kids on average in 1979. The fertility rate lowered before the OCP was made. Even without the OCP China’s population would have probably gone down anyways. The OCP brought a negative social impact on China. As stated in Document E people had to pay fines of $1000 if they had an extra child, and if they wanted one they would have to get a permit. Sometimes couples would be forced to get abortions or sterilizations. Also in some cases, when the parents find out the baby is a girl they will abort and try again for a boy.
Another problem with the OCP is shown in Document A, which shows that the population in
China will drastically drop by 2040. There probably would not be enough women because now there are around 32 million more boys than girls. Also in Document D it shows how women are not treated equally. They have jobs that are targeted for them, for example: bilingual secretaries, public relations, fashion models. Those are still good jobs but they could have better jobs like CEO’s or presidents of a company, but those jobs are usually given to men. The article makes it sound so great but if you read in between the lines you notice how there is some discrimination, for a person to learn multiple languages they should have a more important job than a secretary. People’s view on the OCP is biased based on their experience. Document F tells the story of 2 kids that were born under the OCP. One, which was a boy from a rural area, who loved the OCP, the other was a girl who lived in an urban area and didn’t like it at all. The girl said that all the pressure was on her to be the best and she wanted a sibling to share the pressure with. On the other hand, the boy said that if you have siblings your parents would not

give you the most they could give you. He said everyone would be average because you would be lacking emotional and financial support. Your parents would have to share whatever they could offer with all their children. I think that is a biased thought because very successful people like Bill Gates, Yao Ming, and Jackie Chan all had siblings and still did good in life.
Both the boy and the girl are only thinking on how it affects them and not the future of the country. All in all, I don’t think that the one child policy was a good idea. People should be able to have as many kids as they want or no kids at all. The one child policy wasn’t necessary because the fertility rate dropped before the one child policy. With the one child policy people have to suffer consequences when they have more than one child. Having boys became a necessity, and girls were usually aborted. The way people view the law is biased on their life’s story and not on the big picture. Hopefully, the government will realize this it was a bad decision and get rid of it.