Cause and Effect Essay China’s One Child Policy

Can you imagine not having the option of having more than one child? Well this is the case in China. Due to the enormous increase in population, the Chinese government have decided that each family has the right of having only one child. Otherwise they will be punished. The decision has harmful consequences on the Chinese society. It affected the balance of male-female ratio. In addition, it caused the loneliness of the children. Moreover, it caused a shortage of young people. First, China’s one child policy affected the balance of female-male ratio. The number of the boys in China became much more than the number of the girls which led to unfortunate consequences. For example, it became hard for some of them to get married. In addition, the criminal activities increased since the number of boys is larger. Esther Dulfo states “This only child generation is now reaching adulthood. A child born in 1980 is now 28 years old, and China is beginning to realise the consequences of this demographic imbalance. Among 16-25 years old, there are nearly 110 boys for every 100 girls. Boys are having trouble getting married. And young men, particularly single ones, have more behavioural problems and commit more crimes than young women. ” Second, the children became lonely because they cannot have siblings which led to miserable effects. For instance, the children have weak personality because they do not have someone to fight with which made them not successful in their life according to Esther Dulfo “emotional loneness, vulnerability, and the lack of anti-frustration ability are also common weaknesses for most of her students nowadays”. This effect led us to another effect which is the lack of competition. When you do not have siblings that means you do not have someone to compete with to motivate you to be a better person. Esther Dulfo states a human resource officer for a railroad company also informed that his office workers also show the tendency of selecting recent graduates who are not an only child or from a rural area. The reasons are such students are more hardworking, easier to fit in with the work environment of the railroad systems, and more prepared psychologically than an only child.” Third, since that the old generation is great in number and the new generation is limited in number, they have a great number of old people and a few numbers of young people to take care of them. Esther Dulfo agrees when she writes “Family support has traditionally been the main form of retirement pension in China. However, due to the “421” family structure (one child with two parents and four grandparents) created by one child policy, this traditional practice is doomed to be unsustainable. For example, an a couple born in the 1980’s needs to support four elders of the family, and their child need to support all six of them after their retirement. ” However, some people say that this policy not only has negative effects but also has positive effects. For example, the number of abortion decreased because they do not need it any more. Furthermore, most of the families when they have girls they treat them like boys especially when they want them to take care of the family business. Esther Duflo agrees when she writes “In the competition to produce the perfect “quality” child, city girls are now given all the benefits, from good education and health care, and all the extras, from piano lessons to private tutors in English, that once would have been the prerogative of boys” . Thus, the girls in China do not have to fight for their rights to be equal with men. In the contrary, other people say although there are some positive effects but the majority are negative. Finding a solution for the unbelievable increasing population in China baffles the Chinese government. When they came up with the one child policy they thought that it is the perfect solution. However, through time they discovered the opposite. As a result, the Chinese government should stop adopting this policy. For a better solution, they should create a huge artificial island on the Chinese water on the Pacific Ocean. They can create this huge island and make it suitable for living. Then, they should move part of the population there. In the same time, they should encourage the Chinese people not to have more than two or three children but not to the extent that they force them to have only one child, Finally, there are several negative effects of China’s one child policy. It shook the balance of the society structure. Moreover, it caused psychological issues to the children. Above that, the society lacked the required number of young people. I think the Chinese society needs more time at least few decades to try to get used to this policy and fix its defects.