Kapiolani
Community College Horizons 2002
Kapiolani
Community College
Horizons 2002
by Micheal Feliciani
Over the past fifty years, westerners have often regarded China as “the enemy of the East.” Its communist government is frowned upon by democratic societies. Political parties and figures have used China as an “enemy” when one was needed for some reason or another.
Ironically, westerners know very little about China itself. General information is taught to students in schools, but is often tainted by the views and opinions of a “democratic” educational system. China, as it turns out, is a country that is rich in culture and diversity. It faces many of the same problems that other large country face. The Chinese government handles trade, urban development, population control, and many other issues just like the rest of the world. The following paper will examine China’s practices and policies in regards to population control. Specifically, it will consider family planning policies.
After 1950, China’s governmentÐby now communist in natureÐbegan to notice a growing problem in the country. Population numbers were increasing at such a high rateÐ33.43 per thousand (Oneworld.org)Ðthat the government was finding it difficult to provide for its people. Food was scarce, and some provinces experienced famine. Jobs were also scarce, and the amount of people living under the poverty level increased from 23% to 37% over a ten-year period. By 1970, a typical family in China consisted of a mother and father and, on average, five children. The government realized that if the population growth were not slowed in some way, there would be 1.5 billion people living in China by 1990.
In 1979, after over 20 years of trying various methods to control the increasing population, the different branches of the Chinese government held a congress to address the population issue. Members from each branch reported on how the population increase was affecting their departments. It became apparent that the old means of trying to slow the growth were not working. By 1979, the population was growing at a rate of 35.69 per thousand (Oneworld.org). A new commission was created. Known as the State Family Planning Commission of China, or SFPC, its mission was to address the issue of population control. In conjunction with other agencies, such as the Labor and Education Commissions, the SFPC implemented what is now known as the “One-child Family Policy.
The one-child policy changed certain fundamental principles that China had embraced for thousands of years. Before the policy, Chinese families were expected to have several children. As stated earlier, families of five kids were the norm in the 1970s. According to Chinese customs, family honor is passed from father to son. Due to the high rate of infant death in China because of poor health care and lack of food, having more than one child increased the chances of maintaining family honor. For example, if one had five childrenÐthree boys and two girls, for instanceÐand one of the sons died, one still had two other sons to carry on the family line, and its honor.
Under the new policy, families with only one child were given grain rations. Their child was given an education paid for by the government. Most important, families with only one child were placed on population registries. Anyone not on these registries could not apply for jobs in the cities. Being on these registries made it easier for families to support themselves. To have a child, a couple must sign a contract stating that they will have only one child, and that contraceptives and birth control will be used to prevent another pregnancy. In return, the government will provide medical care, food, and an education at no cost to the parents. Also, the SFPC set birth quotas (allowed numbers) in order to manage population growth. While no exact numbers are known, roughly one in three families in the first three years of the program were given birth coupons and allowed to have a baby (Grolier’s Multimedia Encyclopedia).
At first, the policy was met with skepticism by the people of China. The people feared that if they were allowed only one child, their family honor might be ruined. If they had more than one child, their children’s future would be difficult due to the lack of government support. Another issue that the SFPC faced had to do with families that already had children. How could the government make a family have only one child when it already had three? It was thus decided that the policy would only affect families that conceived children after 1979. Also, the government had difficulties implementing the policy in rural communities. In a big city, implementation was fairly easy due to the fact that people gave birth in hospitals. Documentation of births was sent from the hospitals to the SFPC. However, in the rural communities, where births were often performed with the aid of midwives, documentation of births was lacking. The SFPC took action in 1981 by creating a new government position in the provinces. The job performed by the appointed individuals was to attend all births performed by midwives, document the birth and sex of the child, establish who the parents were, and then send the documents to the SFPC (Overpopulation.com).
The one-child policy gave rise to certain practices that are considered by many to be despicable. As stated previously, family honor is passed on to the male heirs of a family. Female children are expected to uphold the honor of their husband’s families, not the families of their birth. These views and beliefs lead to the practice of sex selection. Sex selection was practiced differently in the cities and in the rural areas. In the cities, where ultrasound equipment and good medical care is available, parents, mostly fathers, can abort pregnancies of girl children. While exact numbers are not available to the public, the average number of abortions in China increased significantly between the years 1985 and 1990. The mothers, in most cases, are not given a choice. They are supposed to support the choices made by their husbands. They are brought to the hospital by their husbands, undergo the abortion, and are then taken home (Forerunner.com). While this practice may appear cruel, it is almost acceptable when compared to the practices of rural areas.
Since hospitals and good medical care are rare commodities in China’s rural areas, in large part because of the inability of the population to pay for these services, most unborn children are carried for the full term. Since sex selection is nearly impossible, expectant parents are unaware of the sex of their child until they are born. If the child born is a male, the parents keep it. If it is a female child, parents not intent on keeping that child may ”consider“ many options. Most families do not have the means to place their child up for adoption, so less than 20% of female babies are adopted (Forerunner.com). There are other options, such as using forceps to crush the baby’ skull after birth, injecting undiluted formaldehyde into the baby’s brain (which causes instant death), and, most commonly and widely known, drowning or smothering the newborn baby. The last method has led to a cultural stereotype in the West of Chinese parents dumping their baby girls into rivers regularly.
These practices are illegal in China, and any parent caught doing these things is fined heavily (roughly $10,000) and faces a jail sentence of up to 20 years. These punishments are also applied to people whose child live for a period after birth, and then mysteriously die later. In the cities, these crimes are rare, since most unwanted girl children are aborted legally. Most girl children who are adopted come from families in the cities. In the rural areas, it is the responsibility of government surveyors mentioned earlier to track the progress of newborn children. However, these workers are understaffed and overworked. This leads to holes in the system, which allow these practices to continue today.
One of the more recent methods implemented by the SFPC to combat such practices is sterilization. After a family has its first child, one of the parents undergoes birth control surgery. In most cases (94%), it is the mother who has the Surgery (Overpopulation.com). However, as with most of the methods of the one-child policy, these sterilizations have become sinister. According to several unnamed Chinese news organizations, the practice of forced sterilizations is not always voluntary. Cases have been reported of citizens being abducted from their place of work or at night from their homes and sterilized. These people are usually those individuals who broke the law by having more than one child after signing the government’s contract. Whether these incidents are true or not can be debated, seeing that this information came from news organizations and not official government records. The government has no such cases on file, but again these incidents occurred in rural areas, where people still embrace the old beliefs. Until further official research is conducted, these cases will remain myths. Also, when the western media got wind of these reports, they were sensationalized and used to make the Chinese government look like a ”bad guy.“ However, China does have laws in place that makes forced and coerced abortions illegal, and the punishments can be quite severe.
One of the major issues that China faces today is the growing “army of bachelors.” According to a 1995 poll conducted by Oneworld.org, the ratio of adult men to women of childbearing age is 4 to 1 in some areas. This has elevated the status of women in Chinese society. Since women in China are so scarce, they are now given a choice that was made for them before. Women now can choose who their husbands will be, whereas before the choice was arranged by their fathers, usually through a matchmaker. Family planning has promoted the change of the people’s concept of marriage, birth, and family. In 1970, the average marrying age was 20.6 years old; in 1993, that number increased to 22.67 (Oneworld.org). It has also opened doors for women in other areas. For example, in the 1950s and 60s, only 6% of women had a high school education. That number has increased over the past twenty years to 15%. Also, since family planning, the number of female workers increased to 56 million, accounting for 38% of the national total of staff and workers. This is a 24.1% increase since 1985, when 45 million women were workers.
While the negative aspects of the family planning policy have been the topic of many debates, the positive aspects have often been overlooked. Family planning has created favorable conditions for the development of China’s economy and the improvement of living standards. Income increased 15.5% for urban dwellers and 14.47% for those living in rural areas since 1978 (Oneworld.org). With less mouths to feed, more money can be spent on luxuries previously unattainable. Health care has also seen a marked improvement over the last twenty years. In an effort to minimize the infant rate of mortality, Chinese officials in the government have increased funding to health care. Prior to 1949, the mortality rate was as high as 20 per 1,000, but at the end of the 1970s that number had dropped to 7 per 1,000. Between 1949 and 1990, life expectancy rose from 35 years to an average of 68.55 yearsÐ66.75 years for males and 70.85 years for females (Forerunner.org). Also, in an effort to prevent infanticide, a network of maternity and childcare facilities has been created all across China, in both the urban and rural areas. Consequently, the morality rate for infants has decreased from 200 per 1,000 prior to 1949 to 35 per 1,000 in 1990 (Forerunner.org).
This is only the tip of the iceberg. This issue is massive, and the amount of information, and misinformation, is staggering. While the family planning policy has benefited and hurt China’s society, reputation, and global standing, the most important point is how the people of China feel about the policy. In a society where living conditions were once hard, people now live comfortably. The economy is better, and for the first time in centuries, women are near equals to their male counterparts. While atrocities have been committed, they are the exception, not the rule. All systems need adjustments, and nothing ever works perfectly the first time. If enough time is given, the family planning system will adjust itself. One final note: China, in its current incarnation, has only existed for 53 years. Like all new countries, it is bound to make mistakes. Also, as errors are made, people learn, grow, and change. Given time, the one-child policy could be the key to China’s bright future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“China.” Groiler’s Multimedia Encyclopedia. 1995 ed.
“Family Planning in China.” URL: http://www.oneworld.org 1/18/02.
Leng, Shao-Chuan. China. The University Press of Virginia. 1986.
“One-Child Population Control Policy.” URL: http://www.forerunner.com/ 1/ 18/02.
Roberts, JAG. Modern China. Sutton Publishing limited, 1999.
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