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Under the one-child policy, imposed in 1979 as a way of reining in population growth already running at dangerously high levels in the world's most populous nation, most families are limited to one child. The worst natural disaster to hit China in 30 years has brought the spotlight to bear on one of the country's most controversial policies of social engineering, and highlighted how this policy puts unbearable pressure on many families in contemporary China.

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Li Chunyan, 16, was one of the victims and her mother's grief is all the more poignant because the One Child Policy means that she, and many of the thousands of dead students in Sichuan, were the only children. And, being teenagers, means that for many families, there will be no more children. Chinese leave it late to have babies because they want to welcome their offspring into a stable environment. When your teenage children die, you are left alone.

The children of the One Child Policy era are cosseted and adored like youngsters nowhere else, because entire generations have their ambitions focused on the single child. Boys are known as "Little Emperors" and are generally surrounded by swooning aunts, uncles and grandparents, all of whom are ready to spend their life savings on giving this one child the best possible education and anything else he desires.

The One Child Policy is often viewed in the West as an attack on human rights, but there is growing debate about the policy in China too. The Beijing government reckons that since the policy was introduced, more than 400 million births have been prevented. The government says it has successfully slowed population growth to about 10 million people a year and there is now an average birth rate of 1.8 children per couple in China, compared to six children when it was introduced. In a country where famine is still in living memory, there were fears that the ever-rising birth rate would put too much strain on already-stretched resources.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-only-ones-how-chinas-singlechild-policy-doubled-the-agony-of-parents-828306.html

   one child is better only limited in china,after all there are not so many well-off families,so if a family is very poor how can they raise their children? u don't know the current situation in china,when people are in the bus ,most of the people are standing,well,if any family can have child as much as they want,there will be no bus willing to take somany people.

I agree with Océane.

It´s strange that in european countries they have the opposite problem, because there aren´t enough births and the population grows and are older and older.

Latin Americ has the same problem like China, but countries has not taken drastic measures and problems like poverty, violence or drugs affects kids. I´m not say it would be a solution for latinamerican people, because they are in diferent situations and cultures. 

I think the one child policy is brilliant.

 I think where the one child policy is criticized in the West it is because of gender-selective abortion, but that is not necessarily due to the one-child policy, but rather the legacy of Confucianism, which the Chinese government has fought against.

I think there should be a one-child policy all over the world. We humans are having a bad effect on the environment and our high numbers are a key factor in this.

Perhaps gender selection would have a good side – it would lead to a shortage of girls in many parts of the world which, over time, would make girls more valued. Just a thought.

I agree with Mark and Aljensen.

To control the demographic increase is one of the main issue for making our planet sustainable. It's also an aspect which can partly solve the problem of poverty.

As we all know, recently China has started to have huge problems with environment and energy and food supply. How would be the situation if China had not set up the single-child policy ? The situation would be even more serious than now.

let's put the one-child policy aside for a moment. I noticed and were interested that many parents there in the quake-hit region -Sichuan were many families having more than one child. I read many news about how a sister/brother carring his/her younger sibllings evacuated from the dangerous belt.

One-child policy is acceptable in present China. But any a policy won't be a immortal one it will be changed according to the true condition. The most ideal policy about child is people-deciding policy in the future. Both the government and the people should think how to lead a better life and provide a better living condition for the children, for the development of children.

A question,

An embryo <in the early stage (<8 weeks)of pregnancy)>and an infant, do you think they are the same important?

I could believe Single-child policy is good, if it were not so inhuman. It can be a temporary measure, but not a permanent law. As we can see, parents go on giving birth to several children despite of the prohibition.

Prohibiting something is not the right way to solve the problem.  I wish government started improving common people's lives by giving to them social guarantees (especially in their old age). Financial support to educational ambitious of the young would also help. The more prosperous and educated people are, the more responsible they are – the less children they have.

Hong Kong is the richest city in China, I guess, but it grows only because migration balance, not birthrate.  Natality there is below zero there! No one has time for kids – everyone works and plans future.

I think though that it was an emergency situation – China had to rapidly switch from a feudal, agrarian economy to a modern industrial one. They could not wait for the culture to change naturally, because the population growth curve would have strangled the country in the meantime. So the government took drastic action.

al – Yes. Bear in mind that the real reason for the one-child policy was that it followed Mao's policy of encouraging Chinese people to have as many children as possible. This was clearly unsustainable. Essentially, the birth rate policy jumped from one extreme to the other.

eating – I appreciated your first post. Perhaps you could make your second post into a new thread? Good topic.

Green Alice – I think that you make a very important point when you say that prohibition is not the best way – and I agree with you. You make excellent points. However, one counter-argument is that we humans may not have time to wait until people naturally produce fewer children. Also, the later we start, the higher the number of people we have when we implement the policy. If we start now, we begin from a base of 6.5 billion. If we wait until 2050, we will (according to the UN) start from a base of 9.5 billion.