1. Debate: China "one child" policy
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Is China's "one child" policy sensible?
[Edit]
Background and context
The one-child policy is the population control policy (or planned birth policy) of the People's
Republic of China (PRC).
The Chinese government introduced the policy in 1979 to alleviate the social and environmental
problems of China. The policy is controversial both within and outside China because of the
issues it raises; because of the manner in which the policy has been implemented; and because of
concerns about negative economic and social consequences.
The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the income
of the family and other factors. However, there are still many citizens that continue to have more
than one child, despite this policy. In February 2008 Chinese Government official Wu Jianmin
said that the one-child policy would be reconsidered during the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference in March 2008, but at that time a representative of China's National
Population and Family Planning Commission said that the policy would remain in place for at
least another decade.
Demographics: Is China's "one child" policy demographically sound?
Yes
 The "one child" policy can be
modified to improve
demographics. Some provinces allow
families where each parent was an "only
child" to have two children. In 2007,
except Henan province, all other
provinces in PRC adopted this new
adaption[46].
No
 "One child" exacerbates China's aging
population problem
 "One child" will create a generation of
men without women to marry HedaBayron.
"Experts: China's One-Child Population
Policy Producing Socio-Economic
Problems". VOAnews. 7 Mar. 2006 - "By
2020, there will be about 40 million Chinese
men unable to marry, because too few girls

2. will have been born. Sociologists say that
could trigger aggressive behavior among
frustrated bachelors, including kidnapping
and trafficking in women."
Fairness/rights: Is the "one child" rule fair to Chinese citizens? Does it violate rights?
Yes
 Extreme overpopulation warrants the
extreme "one child" policy It is fair to
call China's "one child" policy
"extreme". But, it is justified in the
simple sense that China faces an extreme
overpopulation crisis. Desperate times
call for desperate measures. The Chinese
government cannot be blamed for taking
these aggressive, but necessary
measures.
 "One child" generally improves living
standards of Chinese
 Chinese can simply pay a fine to have
an extra child.In many regions of
China, families that really want a second
child can have one, and simply have to
pay a fine. But, in general, Chinese
regional authorities do not go so far as to
absolutely ban having a second child.
Therefore, the status quo merely
discourages and disincentivizes having a
second child.
No
 Chinese understand China's success
depends on "one child", population
control. Many Chinese people are able to
have a second child and are willing to pay the
fine. Yet, they choose not to do so on the
philosophical grounds that it is better for the
country to not have a second child.
 "One child" policy violates right to
reproduce and found family. The one-child
policy has been criticized by human rights
advocacy groups and Western religious
advocacy groups who consider it contrary to
the human rights of reproduction. Many
governments, including the United State
government, argue that the policy violates a
right to "found a family", which is protected
under the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
 China often forces abortions on women,
violating human rights Chinese officials
often force abortions on women against their
will. This persists despite the fact that it has
been banned by China's central government.

3.  China outlaws physically forcing
women to have abortions While China
previously forced some women to have
abortions, it no longer does so, and
expressly forbids the practice.
 China plans on ending "one child"
policy in the futureZhaoBaige, vice
minister of the National Population and
Family Planning Commission - "The
one-child policy was the only choice we
had, given the conditions when we
initiated the policy. So as things develop,
there might be some changes to the
policy, and relevant departments are
considering this."[1]
 China gives exemptions from "one
child" in special circumstances
 Modern Chinese people actually
prefer only one childHedaBayron.
"Experts: China's One-Child Population
Policy Producing Socio-Economic
Problems". VOAnews. 7 Mar. 2006 -
"Surveys among young urban Chinese
show many prefer to have only one
child, because of the cost of raising
children and because of their busy new
lifestyles. Younger Chinese appear to be
following the pattern set in Japan,
Singapore, and many other countries
around the world, the wealthier they
become, the fewer children they want to
have."
 China's forced sterilization is cruel,
violates rightsHedaBayron. "Experts:
China's One-Child Population Policy
Producing Socio-Economic Problems".
VOAnews. 7 Mar. 2006 - Four days after
Mrs. Yao gave birth in October, local
officials descended on the Yao household in
China's Fujian province and dragged her and
her husband to a hospital. There, the couple
was forced to undergo sterilization.
Mr. Yao, 31, is angry at the heavy-
handed action.
"My wife just had a 4 1/2 kilogram baby
four days earlier. It is wrong to ask her to
do another operation," he said. "At least
wait until six months when she recovered.
What they have done was very cruel."
 China's "one child" policy
violates natural law Ye Tingfang,
a professor at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences: "the
one-child limit is too extreme. It
violates nature’s law and, in the
long run, will lead to mother
nature’s revenge."

4. Population: Is the rule essential to controlling China's population size?
Yes
 China's "one child" policy is
key to stabilizing global
population growth Global
population growth is
considered by many to be a
crisis. With 1.3 billion people,
a fifth of the world's
population, China must be a
major part of the solution to
the global population crisis.
"One child" is a pillar of this
global solution.
 China would have far too
many children if not for "one
child". China estimates that it
has three to four hundred
million fewer people today
with the one child policy than
it would have had otherwise.
 Ending China's "one-child"
policy would cause a
population spike Joseph
Chamie, former head of the
United Nations population
division and now head of the
Center for Migration Studies -
"Today the fertility level in
China is around 1.7 children
No
 "One child" is only partly
responsible for reducing China's
fertility rates Hasketh, Lu, and
Xing observed: "the policy itself is
probably only partially responsible
for the reduction in the total
fertility rate. The most dramatic
decrease in the rate actually
occurred before the policy was
imposed. Between 1970 and 1979,
the largely voluntary "late, long,
few" policy, which called for later
childbearing, greater spacing
between children, and fewer
children, had already resulted in a
halving of the total fertility rate,
from 5.9 to 2.9. After the one-child
policy was introduced, there was a
more gradual fall in the rate until
1995, and it has more or less
stabilized at approximately 1.7
since then."
 "One child" is excessive,
alternatives for reducing fertility
rates exist.
 India has achieved population
sustainability without "one
child". As argued above, there are

5. per woman. if China were to
relax its one-child policy, then
it’s reasonable to expect that
fertility would rise. How
much? Well, if fertility
increased to replacement level
of 2.1 (an increase of just
under a half a child), which is
not unreasonable given desired
family size, the country’s
annual number of births would
increase by nearly 30 percent,
or approximately five million
additional births. By
midcentury, this would add up
to nearly a quarter-billion more
Chinese than currently
projected by the U.N. And
given China’s impact on the
environment, especially
greenhouse gas emissions, this
change of policy clearly
portends a great deal."[2]
 One-child forestalls
problems associated with
overpopulation. The reduction
in fertility rate and thus
population size reduced the
severity of problems that come
with overpopulation, like
epidemics, slums,
overwhelmed social services
(health, education, law
enforcement, and more), and
ways to achieve population-size
sustainability without
implementing a "one child" policy.
There are alternative means. India
is a good example of this, having
achieved broadly similar declines
in fertility without state coercion or
occasional brutality.
 It doesn't appear to be working
so far. So far no major population
decreases have occured under the
"one child" policy. This policy
would need to take place for
hundreds of years to work, but that
would not be fair. It has shown
minor changes, but the
overpopulation problem in China
still hugely exists.

6. strain on the ecosystem from
abuse of fertile land and
production of high volumes of
waste.
 "One child" changed
tradition that more children
is better The symbolism of
"one child" is very important
in ending the conventional
belief that more children is
better.
Gender: Does China's "one child" improve gender equality?
Yes
 One-child policy improves
health services for women.It
is reported that the focus of
China on population control
helps provide a better health
service for women and a
reduction in the risks of death
and injury associated with
pregnancy. At family planning
offices, women receive free
contraception and pre-natal
classes. Help is provided for
pregnant women to closely
monitor their health. In various
places in China, the
government rolled out a ‘Care
for Girls’ programme, which
aims at eliminating cultural
discrimination against girls in
No
 "One child" policy fosters
preference for sons; causes
demographic shift. China, like
many other Asian countries, has a
long tradition of son preference.
Many argue that the one-child
policy induces many families to use
selective abortion, abandon female
infants, and even kill female infants
under the influence of the son
preference. Some families even kill
or starve the female infant and then
try again for a male child. The
commonly accepted explanation for
son preference is that sons in rural
families may be thought to be more
helpful in farm work. Both rural
and urban populations have
economic and traditional

7. rural and underdeveloped areas
through subsidies and
education.[3]
 "One child" liberates female
productivity, improves
gender equality Women have
traditionally been the primary
caregivers for children;
however, with fewer children,
they have more time to invest
in their careers, increasing both
their personal earnings and the
national GDP. However, critics
of the policy have asserted that
such a gain may eventually be
cancelled out by the increased
burden of caring for two
elderly parents singlehandedly.
incentives, including widespread
remnants of Confucianism, to
prefer sons over daughters. Sons
are preferred as they provide the
primary financial support for the
parents in their retirement, and a
son's parents typically are better
cared for than his wife's. In
addition, Chinese traditionally view
that daughters, on their marriage,
become primarily part of the
groom's family.
Children: Is the one-child policy good for children?
Yes
 "One child" policies improve
China for young
generations. "One child"
policies improve China by
making its population size
more sustainable and by,
subsequently, improving the
living standards of Chinese
citizens now and in the future.
This is certainly good for
No
 China's "one child" policy
creates too many only
childs "Report says 100 million
Chinese have no siblings".
Associated Press. July 7th, 2008
 China's "one child" policy
fosters spoiled children.Some
parents may over-indulge their
only-child. The media referred to
the indulged children in one-child

8. young Chinese.
 It prevents sibling rivalry. A
lot of children have sibling
rivalry with their brothers or
sisters. A lot of children also
hate their siblings or are
bullied by them. This policy
prevents that.
 Parents with one child will
care more for that child. If
parents have one child, they
will look after them and care
for them more than if there
were three or four children.
The child would in most cases
be loved more and get more
personal attention.
families as "little emperors". Since
the 1990s, some people worry this
will result in a higher tendency
toward poor social communication
and cooperation skills among the
new generation, as they have no
siblings at home. However, no
social studies have investigated the
ratio of these over-indulged
children and to what extent they are
indulged. With the first generation
of one-child policy children (those
born in the 1980s) reaching
adulthood, such worries are
reduced.
 China's "one child" policy causes
the abandonment of
children Damien McElroy and
Olga Craig. "Victims of China's
one-child policy find hope".
Telegraph. 19 June 2001 - "FIVE
young girls, found starving and
close to death amid the rubbish tips
of Beijing, have been given a new
life thanks to the love and
compassion of a poor couple in the
Chinese capital.
The girls were abandoned as babies -
victims of China's one-child policy
coupled with a traditional preference for
sons. Each had been dumped to die by
parents who either wanted their only
child to be a boy or did not want the
burden of a disfigured or disabled infant."

9.  China's "one child" policy
causes
"gendercide"According to
The Economist [4], at least
100 million girls have
disappeared in China. They
were either "aborted, killed, or
neglected to death"- and the
number is rising. "...[C]ouples
want two children—or, as in
China, are allowed only one—
they will sacrifice unborn
daughters to their pursuit of a
son. That is why sex ratios are
most distorted in the modern,
open parts of China and
India."
Support networks: Does the "one child" policy foster family support
networks?
Yes
 The children will still
have families. Children
born with no brothers or
sisters will still have a
family. They will have a
mum and dad,
grandparents and possibly
aunts, uncles and cousins.
No
 The "one child" policy
undermines family support
networks. As the one-child
policy begins to near its next
generation, one adult child is
left with having to provide
support for his or her two
parents and four grandparents.
This leaves the older
generation with more of a
dependency on retirement
funds or charity in order to

10. have support. If personal
savings, pensions, or state
welfare should fail, then the
most senior citizens would be
left entirely dependent upon
their very small family or
neighbors for support. If a
child can't care for their
parents and grandparents, or if
that child can't survive, the
oldest generation could find
itself destitute.
Ending the policy: Would removing the laws undo all good done by the "One
Child" Policy?
Yes
 Removing these laws
would see a lot more
babies born at around
the same time. If the
laws were removed today,
in about nine months time
a flood of babies would
be born in China. People
would undo any good
made by the laws and use
their right to start having
as many babies as
possible.
 When people have back
their rights, they will use
No

11. them. When the laws are
removed, the people of
China will start having
lots of babies - that's
bound to happen and will
undo the help made to
China's overpopulation
problems.
Economics: Is the one child policy economically beneficial?
Yes
 "One child" increases
GDP per capita, living
standardsChina simply
cannot sustain a
population of 2 billion
and provide the standard
of living that it desires.
 China's "one child"
policy helps eradicate
poverty
 China's "one child"
policy increases
individual savings. The
individual savings rate
has increased since the
introduction of the One
Child Policy. This has
been partially attributed to
the policy in two respects.
First, the average Chinese
household expends fewer
No
 Fees for second child are
economically damaging. A
U.S. official named Dewey
testified that parents who bear
a second child are required to
pay a "social compensation
fee", which ranges from half
of the local average annual
income to ten times that.
 China's one-child policy
increases crime "One-Child
Policy, China Crime Rise
Linked by Study". New York
Sun. 19 Nov. 2007 -
"Communist China's one-child
policy is to blame for as much
as 38% of the recent rapid rise
in crime in that country, a new
research report finds.
An associate professor of economics at
Columbia University, Lena Edlund, has
found that a 1% increase in the ratio of

12. resources, both in terms
of time and money, on
children, which gives
many Chinese more
money with which to
invest. Second, since
young Chinese can no
longer rely on children to
care for them in their old
age, there is an impetus to
save money for the
future.[27]
 "One child" policy
maintains a steady
employment rate. With
overpopulation, it is
common that a population
will see rising
unemployment rates.
males to females equates to an increase in
violent and property crime of as much as
6%, "suggesting that male sex ratios may
account for 28% to 38% of the rise in
crime." Ms. Edlund, who studied crime
rates in China between 1988 and 2004,
discussed her findings at a conference
earlier this month at New York
University."
Environment: Is the "one child" policy good for the environment?
Yes
 "One child" policy
helps fight against
global
warming"China
Says One-Child
Policy Helps Protect
Climate". Reuters.
30 August 2007
In solving the pollution and the
No

13. environment, China advocates this
policy in helping reduce their carbon
dioxide output. The government
suggested that every human body
exhale too much carbon dioxide, and
cited statistics that reducing the
countries' population would greatly
reduce carbon dioxide emissions
from human respiration.
 China's "one
child" policy
slows the
depletion of
natural
resources.
Discrimination: Does China's "one child" policy avoid racism?
Yes
 This policy is
not exactly
racist. The "one
child" possibly
is not racist, it is
simply trying to
control China's
extreme
population.
No
 China's "one
child" policy is
inherently
racist Paul Jalsevac.
"The inherent
racism of population
control."
LifeSiteNews.com
 China's "one
child" policy
causes
socioeconomic

14. discrimination
Chinese opinion: Where does the Chinese population stand on this
issue?
Yes No
 Protests have been
widespread in
China against "one
child" DraganStank
ovic and John Chan.
"Protests in China
over the one child
policy". World
Socialist Website. 1
June 2007
Pro/con resources
Yes
 "China Says
One-Child
Policy Helps
Protect
Climate".
Reuters. 30
August 2007
 "Family
Planning in
China".
Information
Office of the
State Council
No
 Brandon Keim.
"China: The Wrong
Way to Do
Population Control".
Wired. July 24,
2007
 "Report says 100
million Chinese
have no siblings".
Associated Press. 7
July 2008
 Damien McElroy
and Olga Craig.

15. Of the People's
Republic of
China. 1995
"Victims of China's
one-child policy
find hope".
Telegraph. 19 June
2001
 Claudia Joseph.
"Babies for sale:
The scandal of
China's brutal single
child policy". 6 Oct.
2007
 HedaBayron.
"Experts: China's
One-Child
Population Policy
Producing Socio-
Economic
Problems".
VOAnews. 7 Mar.
2006
 "Can China Afford
to Continue Its One-
Child Policy?". East
West Center. Mar.
2005
 "Family Planning in
China". Information
Office of the State
Council Of the
People's Republic of
China. 28 Dec. 2004
 "China: Human
rights violations and
coercion in one-

16. child policy
enforcement".
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
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HOUSE OF
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ES ONE
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DECEMBER 14,
2004
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