China has been under a one-child policy for 25 years now and has successfully accomplished its goal: to lessen the population. The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) recently came to the conclusion that even though the one-child policy was successful and did wonders for the economy, it’s time to end it. China has come across the one situation they thought would never happen: there are not enough children being born compared to the number of elderly people dying every day. Now the CCP wants to miraculously change the values, morals and mindsets of the people who have been living according to a severe standard for a very long time.
Ever wonder what would happen if the same rule were applied in the US? One thing is certain, not many people would follow it. They would protest and argue against it like it was a matter of life and death (more like birth than death); consequently, the government would probably reduce the number of sanctions imposed on those who did not obey the rules.
China didn’t have the luxury of protesting against the one-child policy. Many people did refuse, but the consequences of opposing the CCP are numerous and not something to look forward to. From charging annual fees to throwing people in jail, the CCP did anything they could to stop mothers from having more kids. They managed to control the situation in the major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing; but the population in the countryside kept growing and growing. It is considerably harder to keep an eye on peasants and farmer families that live deep in the mountains.
Rewards are powerful, manipulation is efficient and fear moves the world. The CCP knows they have control of everything around them, so when they felt like raising the population number, they created exceptions to the one child-policy. From giving pregnant mothers longer maternity leaves, better health care and supplying those families who decided to have more than one child with annual bonuses; they scraped the edges of China in the search for more babies.
Some of you might be wondering what the point of this article is, and my response would be something like ‘there’s no point, it’s a commentary article’, but that’s not true. Many people are not aware of the difficult and life-threatening situations taking place in other countries. I know the one-child policy is hardly life-threatening, but it is something that has been affecting China for twenty-five years and will continue to do so in the years to come. I’m not saying you should revolve your entire life around countries besides your own, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a basic knowledge of things that could someday relate to you. Furthermore, if you are in mating season and wish to impress your prey, throwing some researched information about their native country into the conversation always helps.