The curtain call of China's one-child policy

On 29 October, China's state media, Xinhua News Agency, reported a full relaxtion on the existing two-child policy, announcing the end of China's one-child policy that had been implemented for three decades.

The one-child policy, also part of family planning policy, was a population control policy of China which was initiated in late 1970s and early 1980s to curb a then-surging population and limit the demands for water and other resources, as well as to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in China. The policy was intended to be applied universally although many exceptions were made to particular families and ethinic minorities. Millions of families have been affected by this policy.

The result of the policy was a general reduction of China's fertility and birth rate after 1980, and undeniably made a contribution in controlling such a huge population in the world. However, the more profound consequences were produced beyond the goal of reducing population. Most remarkably, the country's sex ratio became skewed towards males. Since China (particular in rural areas) still remains a patriarchal society which prefers boys as sons inherit the family name and property and are responsible for the care of elderly parents, having girls became very undesirable, resulting in a rise in abortions of female fetuses, increase in the number of female orphanages or abandoned babies, and even infanticide of baby girls (dont believe it? it happened a lot in the past and even was not seen as crime!) The skewed sex ratio directly led to the gender imbalance on the matrimonial market (fewer women available for marriage).

Another consequence of the policy was the early arrival of an aging society due to the concurrent drop in birth rate and rise in longevity. An aging society referes to one with more than 10% of its population older than 60, or more than 7% of its population older than 65. China has entered an aging society since the year of 2000, with an estimate of 88.11 million (6.96%) senior people older than 65, and 130 million (10.2%) older than 60, according to the 5th National Population Census. The great majority of senior citizens in China has created a huge burden for the current health services and pensions systems, as well as for their children who support them after they retire.

A third consequence was the many instances in which the subsequent children born after the first went unreported or unregistered in the household registry. Usually families having a second child would face high fines but in rural areas many parents could not afford the penalty and had to hide their children from authorities. These children thus became undocumented "heihu"(黑户, people without a residential permit) and faced hardships in obtaining health services, education and employment.

So when the end of this "extremely evil" policy was announced, the crowd on Chinese social media platforms gave great acclaim to it. As a second child and survivor of the one-child policy, I understand too well the feeling. For my birth my family was fined about 2,000 yuan and it was at a time when the average monthly wage of my father was just 30 yuan! My parents borrowed money from everybody they knew and you can imagine in the subsequent five years what kind of life we went through in order to pay back the money. But in some sense I turn out lucky enough to have my sister's company during childhood and now sharing the responsibility of taking care of our parents, whereas many people my age had a very lonely childhood , and as the only child would imaginably be burdened with the heavy responsibility to support their retired parents. Just as many users said,

We people born in 1980s have sadly become the only one-child generation in Chinese history, with four parents and one/two children to support! And maybe four grandchildren to look after in the future!

And oddly but understandably enough, a lot of jokes/memes about the policy change have spread out. It seems that people would like to use a way of "ridicule the ridiculous" to say farewell to the old policy and a carnivaleque welcome to the new one. The posters of the old days that propagated one-child policy have been recreated to advocate the two-child policy.

GDP has been advanced so should be population.

You can become pregnant, give birth to child and raise him/her up, but you cannot have him/her aborted!

Rural economy should be boosted through having more children and planting more trees!

Having a second child should be rewarded. Having one child should be fined. Dinks and infertile people should be arrested!

Having girls is as good as having boys otherwise your son would not be able to find a girlfriend!

Also, here are some examples of the jokes widespread on social media:

@dajieda: after the implementation of two-child policy......someday a student made a mistake at school and the teacher asked to see his parents. The student said: my parents are not home, can i ask my uncle to come to see you? The teacher said okay. The next day the student carried his one-year-old uncle to school.

@woxiangjingjing: last night was a toughest night for Chinese people. The 60s (the generation born after 1960) were thinking: "should I have a second son or a second grandson?" The 70s: "should I have a second child and am I still able to conceive?" The 80s: "If my mother-in-law and my wife are in confinement at the same time, who should I look after?" The 90s: "when I come across a little boy, should I call him brother or uncle?" The 00s (2000s): "my parents' love for me will be shared. How to be a NEET without my parents' financial support being shared? "

@Laoxu: The new policy perplexed the 60s the most. They are going to retire and have grandchild very soon but suddently the retirement age is extended, and now a second child is allowed. "Should I have a grandson or my own son?" So hard to choose.

Certainly there were also serious, professional articles that gave medical or psychological advices to those older women who decide to have a second child. Such articles had attracted wide attention and large numbers of repost on social media.

Practice is the only criterion for testing truth. Chinese people have fully acknowledged and experienced the drawbacks of one-child policy and it is high time that the Chinese government ended it. But I estimate there would not be a real surge in birth rate in a short term. Those who wanted to have a second child probably already managed to have one somehow, whereas those who wanted to have but hesitated to would still decide not to have. After all, raising a child in China is really costly and strenuous.

#onechildpolicy #china #population #twochildpolicy