China s One Child Policy

							                                    China’s One-Child Policy




*What is the purpose of the policy?

“The Chinese government decided in the 1970s to control population growth. This has proved a
very complex task. The main strategy the government introduced in 1982 was a radical family
planning program to encourage couples to restrict their family size to just one child. This has
become known as the 'One Child Policy'. It is absolutely imperative that we all support the One
Child Policy in our country. If we don't, our people will go hungry. Do you think we want our
people to be a burden to the rest of the world? It is our duty to have only one child. I thank you if
you can understand this.”

~Rongzhao Li, Wuhan, Hubei Province~

I. Policy Incentives
     salary bonus (urban)
     bigger land allocation (rural)
     extended maternity leave
     paid medical and hospital expenses
     priority access to housing, employment and schooling for the child

II. Disobeying the Policy
     withdrawal of family allowance and medical benefits
     fines (even against everyone in the village or town)
     demotion or discharge from a government job

III. Exceptions to the Rule
     membership of a minority ethnic group (can be allowed two or even more children)
     having a first child with a disability that is likely to result in inability to work
     pregnancy after adopting a child
     risk of 'losing the family line' without a second child (the first child being a girl)
     rural families with 'real difficulties' (all children so far being girls)

~From Curriculum Corporation and the Asialink Centre, The University of Melbourne~



*As you view the documentary, China’s Lost Girls, record how the implementation of the
one-child policy has impacted Chinese society.
Chinese villagers riot over 'one-child' policy
By Jonathan Watts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/, Monday, 21 May 2007

Thousands of villagers in south-west China have attacked family planning officials, overturned cars and set
fire to government buildings in a riot sparked by the state's "one-child" policy. Riot police have been
dispatched to at least four townships in the Guangxi autonomous region after a weekend of disturbances
that led to multiple injuries and unconfirmed reports of two fatalities, witnesses and Hong Kong media
reported today. The unrest comes in the wake of a new crackdown by the Bobai county government
against families that break birth control regulations. Financial penalties have increased and parents who fail
to pay are being punished by having their property confiscated or destroyed.

At the height of the demonstrations on Saturday, a crowd of several thousand stormed the Shapi municipal
office, pulled down a wall and chased and beat officials from the family planning department. This
followed demonstrations in a number of other towns in Bobai county, which introduced tough new
measures against family planning violators earlier this year. Under state policies - dating back to the late
1970s - most urban couples can only have one child. Families from rural areas and ethnic minorities can
often have two children, especially if the first is a girl. The aim of the policy is to slow the growth of the
world's biggest population, which is seen as a drain on resources.

In Bobai, the rules were weakly enforced for many years, but this spring the local government established
"family planning work squads" to collect penalties retrospectively. A student from the area who gave only
his surname Zhou told the Guardian that his family were fined 2,000 yuan because they had three sons in
the 1980s. He said his uncle, who has five children, was told he must pay 20,000 yuan. "He only earns
1,200 per month. So it is a lot for them. But if you cannot pay, the officials come to your home and
confiscate the contents. If you refuse, then smash, smash, smash."

On internet chatrooms and in telephone conversations, locals said the work teams have confiscated cattle,
DVD players, crockery and other household goods in lieu of unpaid fines. Officials from other government
departments were mobilised for the campaign. "My friend works in the agriculture department which
normally has no connection to family planning, but a few days ago, he was given a uniform, a helmet and a
sledge hammer and told to collect fines in the village," said a local man called Yang. One woman - a Mrs.
Luo - said she was recruited to make up the numbers of the "work squads". "They believed the more
people the more threatening the effect," she said. "Usually we went to a house and asked them to pay the
fine. If no one answered, some men in our group used hammers to break in and take away property. If there
was not enough to confiscate, they smashed the walls. Before we used to force women to have abortions
but now the target seems to have changed to raising money. I hate this job, but I have no choice."

Another local man – Mr. Lu of Yulin village - said the riot started after the work teams bulldozed the house
of a poor farmer who could not afford the fine. The farmer reportedly went to the municipal office to
protest and returned with three broken fingers, stirring up anger in his community. Local governments and
police stations refused to comment. The state-run media has been forbidden from reporting on the incident.
A doctor at the Shabei hospital told the Reuters news agency that several injured people had been treated
there. Online photographs of the Guangxi protest showed smashed cars, burning buildings and a rioter
stealing a computer monitor. There were also images of work squads in army fatigues carrying sledge
hammers.

The one-child policy has become a symbol of the wealth gap in China. Earlier this month, government
officials admitted that many rich families violated the rules because they could afford the fines. Inequality,
land grabs and pollution fears have prompted a wave of unrest in the provinces. According to the ministry
of public security, there were 87,000 protests, officially termed "mass incidents," reported in 2005, up 6.6%
on 2004 and 50% from 2003.