As part of a comprehensive reform on sensitive issues, which includes closing forced labor camps and reducing the number of crimes punishable by death, the Chinese Communist Party announced that from now on those whose parents are only children will be able to have a second child
Experts have criticized the policy implemented in China since the XNUMXs, which limits each family to having one child (by the way, with the exception of minorities who were actually allowed to have two children), arguing that the arrangement creates more problems than the problem it is meant to solve - the population explosion.
And yesterday, after months of rumors, the Communist Party of China announced that it is loosening its strict policy and also closing the labor camps (or the re-education through work camps) in order to improve human rights, at least that is what the Chinese news agency Shihua claims. The Chinese have also announced that they will reduce the number of people executed each year after being accused of various offenses that Western officials say have usually covered up political motives.
China's one-child policy was unusual in its severity and degree of enforcement. China's family planning laws required that most families living in urban areas be content with one child. The policy will be gradually eased so that couples can have a second child if one of the parents is an only child. As of today (due to a previous relief) only if both parents are only sons were they allowed to have a second child.
On the one hand, the one-child policy was appreciated worldwide because it slowed down the growth rate of China's population. Much of China's growth in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs was due to these single children receiving a good education, but it turns out that extremism on either side is not good. The policy was criticized for the widespread use of abortions and the heavy fines used to enforce it. In addition, over the years it became clear that the policy harmed the Chinese elderly who for generations were used to relying on the support of their children in their old age, and even harmed economic growth when the working-age population continues to shrink. Additional problems arose from the loneliness of the children.
A serious problem that was talked about from time to time was that the Chinese tradition especially caused the abortion and even murder of girls, and thus a situation was created in which millions of Chinese men remained single for all that this implies.
Thousands of people who were detained without any trial worked in the labor camps. Labor re-education camps were established in the XNUMXs under Mao Zedong's rule modeled after the Soviet gulags, a place where counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the working class could stay without trial.
It is estimated that millions of prisoners died in the camps due to overwork, suicides and harsh conditions until the reform led by Deng Xiaoping in the 160s when he released prisoners accused of political or religious offences. According to data from the Chinese Ministry of Justice, 350 thousand people were held in 2008 camps all over China at the end of 190. The UN estimates their number at XNUMX thousand people.
As part of the reforms, China said it would reduce the number of crimes punishable by death.
To get a background on the fear in the seventies about the population explosion It is recommended to read Isaac Asamoev's article "The End" which was published at the time in Hebrew in the magazine Fantasy 2000
More on the same topic on the science website:
- Earth's population will reach 11 billion at the end of the century
- A hungry world?
- There are many Chinese, less Chinese women
5 תגובות
If people have what they need there is no need for forced growth.
Eddie:
Who is interested in growth?
Who is it meant to serve?
There is no chance to save China. Even the half population that was born to replace the retirees now
They are kindergarten children from a week old, whose parents work 11 hours a day. Those who were not raised at home do not understand
What is freedom, he does not think selfishly, he has no tools for moral and ethical behavior. In addition there are
In China there is a large surplus of men due to the murder of girls immediately upon birth..."surprise" in the democratic West
There is a large excess of women...because of the use of estrogen for agricultural pesticides against insects as well
To fatten animals for meat... in the past they did it with growth hormone and this is the reason why boys are taller than fathers.
So prepare their daughters who believe in what is accepted in the West for life with a Chinese man on his feet
The justification for this policy - appears all over the internet - so I don't understand why it is difficult to understand:
Today, on the one hand, more older people want to continue working, and on the other hand, the number of jobs is decreasing. In simple words: there is not enough work for everyone, so there is no need for 2.4 children per family.
On the third hand - people are pollution to the Earth in their current quantity, and if global warming increases - then what will a growing economy help?
It is difficult to understand the justification for the Chinese fertility policy, given that in order to achieve good economic growth, a fertility rate of about 2.4 children per woman is necessary, and a minimum fertility of about 2.1 for any growth. Paying attention to the growth rate of the Chinese economy, which has recently been found to be relatively disappointing (and even if you believe the GDP figures published by the Chinese, some of which are suspected of being 'renovated'), it must be assumed that, at least in the future, the policy limiting births will disappear.
In Israel, the fertility rate stands at 2.9 children per woman, but it is not known if this rate will persist due to the cuts in child allowances and due to the large socioeconomic disparities in society. The state must encourage childbirth, and at the same time increase the effort to integrate into employment (as productive as possible) populations that are not yet sufficiently integrated - precisely because they excel in a higher than average fertility rate. It is clear that the effort to combine employment will lower the productivity rate at some level, but there is no escaping simultaneous action in both directions, if you want a growing economy in the long term.