WASHINGTON, D.C. Oct. 29 (DPI) – Readers across the internet floated three central points following China’s decision to abandon its one-child policy: 1) The country of 1.35 billion is better off for having implemented it; 2) The single-child phenomenon isn’t healthy for the families and children themselves, and 3) We still live on an overpopulated planet.
The decision by the Chinese Communist Party to scrap the 40-year-old policy was long anticipated, but the rule itself was seen as effective – perhaps too effective. One of the reasons to allow two children now instead of one stemmed from the fact that the country with the world’s second largest economy was facing demographic distortions with an aging workforce, and a weakening economy.
Readers offered a trove of insights which, to a greater degree than most online responses to news, offered a range of insights and analysis of the shift’s implications.
Most recommended on nytimes.com:
If only the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and India could follow China’s lead of having at least some limit on the number of children. At a stroke, the vast majority of the worlds major problems would be solved.
Living in China for almost four years I noticed one interesting impact of the one-child policy. Children recently born were from parents who were only children. This meant that the child born recently has no uncles and no aunts and no cousins. Also this one child was the only grandchild of two sets of grandparents. The bottom line was that this one child was surrounded by six adults as the sole focus of their attention. In other words, the generational pyramid was flipped with this one child at the top instead of the grandparents at the top. The result is that this one child becomes the center of the universe of six adults and often incredibly absurdly spoiled. The middle class in China will soon be filled with adult children (mostly males) who are probably the most self-centered people who have ever lived.
Yes, the policy of one-child seems draconian and perhaps is draconian, but can this planet afford any more mouths and consumers into it? A hundred years from now, life on this planet will not be pretty. That’s my prediction. What am I saying, it’s not pretty now.
The demographic myth of needing more young people to support an aging population is one of the greatest jokes on the 21st century global technocracy. As History will teach our grandchildren, the only hope for our distressed planet is the significant diminution of our human occupation force.
If our only recourse to grow economies and compete with other nations is to expand our populations then we are not as innovative or clever as we need to be to stop or reverse climate change. We do not need more we need less and that includes less people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/world/asia/china-end-one-child-policy.html
Among “Best Liked” on WashingtonPost.com:
The saddest reality of the one child policy is more than economics. The one child policy for 35 years has caused the Chinese people to lose their culture, family bond and behaviour. Children had no brothers or sisters to play with and learn communications and manners. The next generation even worse, they had no relatives, just parents and two sets of grandparents. The single child is spoiled and protected so tightly, they have become rude and lack of social skills and manners. At year 25-30, the men have limited choice in women as many female born were murdered. So the issue stems deep and the repercussions will continue for another generation.
I’m happy that China eventually lift this policy. As a 6-year-old girl’s father, I am actually not going to make use of this new policy. You know, the pressure of raising one more child is unbearable in current China. Only those with both enough money and idle time can consider to have one more kid – unfortunately, most people cannot meet the criteria and government can’t provide much help.
This could be a big problem. Despite its faults, the one child policy helped to control the rate of growth of China’s huge population. Yes, the policy created problems, but it also kept China from becoming a country with 3 billion hungry people. If the policy gets lifted and if China’s population growth rate grows an even small amount, then China’s 1.6 billion population could double in 50 years. China is already the world’s biggest polluter.