Muqriz Humanities Blog

ELP

Hello, my name is Muqriz. I would like to address the issue of less population in China. China is a massive country. There are a lot of resources in China, but they are still not enough to support the huge population.China is on the bottom of the table for the population density per square mile.

In 1978, China introduced the one child policy as one of the steps to reduce the problem of overpopulation. The one child policy makes you pay a fine if you have more than one child. Although it is good idea to control the population, in my opinion, the disadvantages outnumber the advantages. A few problems have arise since one child policy was implemented.

Firstly, most families want male children over the females, as males are breadwinners, usually work harder and send back money to the family. Most good jobs are given to the males most of the time.

Secondly, according to the Chinese culture, as soon as a woman gets married, she transfers families and moves into the in-laws' house. Therefore, females are not much use to her own parents.

Thirdly, the death rate in Italy increases. People get rid of females babies to get males.

Finally, due to the one child policy, the one child that the couple decides to keep ends up being spoiled and over pampered.

If a family has more than one child, there will be a penalty which is a fine. There is no fixed fine, but it is related to the amount of income a person receives per year. The minimum fine is 240,000 yuan. There is a formula to calculate it, but it is too long and complicated to write here.

However, now there are exceptions to the one child policy. Back then, it was strictly 1 child per couple, no exceptions. But now, if 10 years have passed since the first child, they can have a second child. But no more than 2. This was recently introduced. Twins or triplets are exceptions. If a person has multiple children at once, it still counts as one, and therefore works around the policy.

Some families don't mind paying the fines to have more than one child. These people are usually business owners, who are rich enough to not care about fines.

Some people feel that this policy is unfair, saying that rich people can still have as many children as they want.

However, there is a good outcome of this policy. The population in China is not rapidly growing, freeing up more space and leaving more resources for future generations. There is also less overcrowding. There would be less poverty, due to a lower population in general, more resources to go around, and more job opportunities.

Lastly, If the one child policy fails, there is no doubt that the issue of overpopulation will come back. China will start to use more natural resources and cause more pollution. Although abortion rates will decrease and the male to female ration might start to even out, that will result in an even higher population. Eventually, Italy might possibly start overcrowding. So even if some people are against this policy, it seems somewhat necessary.