Should the one Child Policy Be Banned?

Should the One Child Policy Be Banned?

Many years ago in 1979, a special policy was introduced in China called the One Child Policy. Before this year during the period of Mao's leadership, the government encouraged families to have as many children as possible ("One-child policy," 2012). Why had the policy of children been changed? It's because that the growth of population and environmental disruption had threatened the government of China. The population grew from around 540 million in 1949 to 940 million in 1976 ("One-child policy," 2012). In 1978, during the Cultural Revolution, the conclusion of data was that if the nation did not control baby birth, China would face a very serious crisis- rapid population growth would undermine the development of the party (Susan, 2008). The government cannot afford to support so many people in China.

What is the One Child Policy?

The one-child policy is a policy used to keep the population balanced during a long period. This policy is unique in main-land China. This policy was introduced by the Chinese government in 1979 in order to solve some social and environmental problems ("One-child policy," 2012).

The content of this policy is to encourage citizens to marry at later ages and have just one child after marriage. The main content and purpose are advocating the late marriage and childbirth and also having fewer children with higher quality so as to control population in a planned way. China's one-child policy is a beautiful dream. This is a dream that was very powerful at the beginning, but has hindered the development of the country. When it just emerged, the policy was in order to cultivate a generation of healthy, wealthy, and smart young men who would contribute to China (Susan, 2008).

However, as time goes on, a number of problems have been coming up. This passage will consider three main problems as following:

* Who will take care of the old and child-less people?

* A serious shortage of working population.

* The future of non-only one child is adopted by foreigners.

According to understanding the questions mentioned above, we may find some ways to improve the situation.

Who will take care of the old and child less people?

There are more and more parents who have been child less people when they became old. This group of people is called "lost the only". In China, a lot of news about these people was put on line or in newspapers. Guangzhou Daily estimated in May that families having lost their only child total at least 1 million. This amount is increasing fast as about 76,000 only children between 15 and 30 years old die each year, the newspaper said (Huang, 2012).These parents don't want to blame the policy although they had experienced a rough life after they lose their children. Many of these parents may have also lost their hope for security as they lost their only child. However, they also have questions and requirements for government. In 2002 Population and Family Planning Law ruled that local governments should provide the necessary assistance for these parents whose children were killed by accident or disease (Huang, 2012). Does it really help these parents? We can't say the government has done nothing for these parents. But unfortunately, this kind of help just help them improve their quality of lives a bit, not too much. Professor Mu acknowledges the government's efforts, but says these subsidies are not enough. "It is mostly just a sign to show that they [the government] care about this group. But as far as the real outcome the families are the ones that know it."(VOA News, 2012). It provides that if the mother is over 49 years old, the couple can obtain a subsidy of more than 80 Yuan, or about U.S. $ 12.58 (Huang, 2012). What can they do with such little money? As a result, most parents chose to have a second child or adopt orphans instead. However, this is not a good way either. The couple adopted one orphan but they don't feel comfortable to taking their "child" out because they will feel uneasy when the child calls them mom and dad. That will make them seen strange as they look more like her grandparents (Huang, 2012).

For these reasons, the amount of parent's appeals to the