China may scrap one-child policy
From Reuters, today:
China, worried about an ageing population, is studying scrapping its controversial one-child policy but will not do away with family-planning policies altogether, a senior official said on Thursday….
China says its policies have prevented several hundred million births and boosted prosperity, but experts have warned of a looming social time-bomb from an ageing population and widening gender disparity stemming from a traditional preference for boys….
Officials have also cautioned that population controls are being unravelled by the increased mobility of China’s 150 million-odd migrant workers, who travel from poor rural areas to work in more affluent eastern cities….
From The Times Online today, fascinating yet tragic inside info:
When Mao’s enormous baby boom generation reaches retirement age in a few years, Chinese officials fear that their families will be unable to provide financial and social support.
One child being left to care for two parents and four grandparents is known as the “4-2-1” problem, and threatens to put severe strain on communities in a country which lacks a formal social security system to care for the elderly.
The policy has also produced an unnatural gender imbalance, as couples use legal and illegal means to ensure that their only child is a son. There are 117 men to each 100 women in China compared with the 108:100 imbalance in India, where sons are also preferred and female foetuses are sometimes aborted or baby girls left exposed to die.
Chinese officials estimate that by 2020 there will be 30 million men known as “bare branches”, unable to find a wife to marry and have their own child.
Another consequence of the one-child rule has been the creation of a generation of “little emperors”, indulged and cosseted boy children who are often overweight, arrogant and lacking in social skills.
Also from The Times Online, in a separate article today:
China’s political leadership is considering ending the country’s hated “one-child” policy because it is damaging the economy and creating a demographic timebomb, a senior minister admitted today.
Zhao Baige, Vice Minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, revealed that there is concern at the highest levels that the policy is already tearing apart the fabric of society.
[HT: Drudge; photo credits: Times Online]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Hi Jill,
Interesting news, and I would caution anyone from thinking that this is coming right away. the party has been batting this around for a long time, and why I would say we are far off is that they just kicked 500 party members out of the party for violating this policy and I cannot imagine this would have occurred if we were close.
Hope all is well
R
http://www.china-crossroads.com
Crossroads, thanks for the additional info. If you get more, please email me?
Those children in that picture are so beautiful!
China is so broken, it is really sad.
Chinas ‘women dont count for anything’ attitude – which is centuries old – has come back to bite them in the backside. The same thing is happening in India. Now all these precious precious little boys cant find useless worthless women who will marry them. I couldnt be happier. Karma, and all that.
I have always hoped to adopt a baby girl from China someday. I hope that the Lord will make a way for us to do so sometime down the road. The girls that are fortunate enough to survive all go to the overcrowded orphanages. It just breaks my heart.
“Chinas ‘women dont count for anything’ attitude – which is centuries old – has come back to bite them in the backside.”
I disagree that China has a “women don’t count attitude.” I mean, if this policy went into effect in America I bet many people would be shooting for a son. Girls are more likely to be aborted then boys, and boys are more likely to get more attention from their parents then girls (ex. they spend more time talking during a family dinner and are more likely to interrupt their sister while she is talking). I don’t think China is any more misogynistic then most other countries in this world.
“I have always hoped to adopt a baby girl from China someday.”
Well I hope you raise her to be proud of her Chinese heritage and provide her with female Chinese role models.
I disagree that China has a “women don’t count attitude.” I mean, if this policy went into effect in America I bet many people would be shooting for a son. Girls are more likely to be aborted then boys, and boys are more likely to get more attention from their parents then girls (ex. they spend more time talking during a family dinner and are more likely to interrupt their sister while she is talking). I don’t think China is any more misogynistic then most other countries in this world.
Jess, where do you get this stuff?
i don’t even know where to begin….
Well I hope you raise her to be proud of her Chinese heritage and provide her with female Chinese role models.
What would be wrong with raising her to be proud to be an American?
I disagree that China has a “women don’t count attitude.”
From GUTTMACHER:
?Sex preference. Son preference was most evident among the older women. A 45-year-old woman from Yunnan with one son and one daughter indicated that grandparents perpetuate gender inequality by treating their grandsons and granddaughters differently. “Mothers-in-law love their sons and grandsons, but not their daughters. If a grandson isn’t back home on time, the grandmother will worry. If he is sick, she will bring him to the hospital. If it is the granddaughter, no. Our generation treats girls and boys equal. But there is a common sentence in the village: boys are treasure, girls are trouble.” One just-married 25-year-old woman from Anhui with no children wants a son, even though she says she should not feel that way: “If I don’t get a son, I will consider that my fate is bad. I am a graduate of senior high school, but I still think boys are better. Of course, if I have a daughter, I will love her. At home, my mother and grandmother think it’s bad to have a daughter. Most people think if you have no son, you will still want another [child]. If you only have a daughter at home, you are considered incapable. That is stupid, but people in villages think that way.”
Some couples will do anything to make sure the second child is a boy; most rely on ultrasound machines, even though it is illegal to use them to reveal the sex of a fetus. According to one 47-year-old woman from Anhui who has two sons: “People use an ultrasound B machine. If it is a female fetus, they don’t want it. People will usually go elsewhere to check. No matter how much money they have to spend, they think it is worth it.”
Here’s the link:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3006804.html
“Jess, where do you get this stuff?
i don’t even know where to begin….”
I hear all the time on this site that girls are more likely to be aborted then boys. Having female children also raises a couples chances of getting divorced.
“What would be wrong with raising her to be proud to be an American?”
Yes she can be raised to be both. She should know though that there is nothing wrong with being Asian and there are many smart, strong Asian women. Asian women in this country tend to be stereotyped as submissive and abnormally sexual and she should know that she is more then that and there is nothing wrong with her because she is different from her family, and is not white.
I just hate the stereotype of the oppressive Asian man and the submissive hyper-sexual Asian woman.
I hear all the time on this site that girls are more likely to be aborted then boys. Having female children also raises a couples chances of getting divorced.
So what are you saying then? That girls deserve to be aborted simply for being girls???
I just hate the stereotype of the oppressive Asian man and the submissive hyper-sexual Asian woman.
I’m really not sure where those particular stereotypes fit into this argument… maybe you could help me understand?
“So what are you saying then? That girls deserve to be aborted simply for being girls???”
I was just saying it’s unfair to single out China for being misogynistic when most of the whole world is. We need to change people’s thinking, hopefully by setting good examples as women ourselves. We can show the world that having a daughter can be just as fulfilling as having a son. One my be keeping our families maiden name. If the name is going to die out, maybe it should pass on to your children.
“I’m really not sure where those particular stereotypes fit into this argument… maybe you could help me understand? ”
It might be hard for a child who looks so different from the rest of her family to feel beautiful and accepted. People will look at her as different when she is just as smart and amazing as the rest of her family. I wouldn’t want her to think of being Asian as a disability.
Well I hope you raise her to be proud of her Chinese heritage and provide her with female Chinese role models.
What would be wrong with raising her to be proud to be an American?
Posted by: Bethany at February 28, 2008 3:43 PM
……………………………………….
What would be wrong to raise the child to be proud of their birth place and their childhood place? Why not both?
Come on Bethany! Your kids understood every word you spoke to them when they were nothing more than a blastocycst. It would only be right to at least learn some of a foreign adopted child’s embryonic language. Imitating the smells of real mommy’s cooking. Her lullabys. The gongs at the Buddhist temple. All those memories of gestation. You wouldn’t want to traumatize a child. Would you?
What would be wrong to raise the child to be proud of their birth place and their childhood place? Why not both?
Come on Bethany! Your kids understood every word you spoke to them when they were nothing more than a blastocycst. It would only be right to at least learn some of a foreign adopted child’s embryonic language. Imitating the smells of real mommy’s cooking. Her lullabys. The gongs at the Buddhist temple. All those memories of gestation. You wouldn’t want to traumatize a child. Would you?
It may have been difficult to see, but I was responding to what seemed to be an implication by Jess that Melissa for some reason wouldn’t be teaching the child about her family or her country, simply because she said that she wanted to adopt a baby girl from China. I don’t understand for the life of me why Jess made that assumption from what she said.
Of course I believe that every child should be connected to where they came from.
I was just saying it’s unfair to single out China for being misogynistic when most of the whole world is. We need to change people’s thinking, hopefully by setting good examples as women ourselves. We can show the world that having a daughter can be just as fulfilling as having a son. One my be keeping our families maiden name. If the name is going to die out, maybe it should pass on to your children.
Well, a good start would be to stop letting them kill girls just because they are girls.
“It may have been difficult to see, but I was responding to what seemed to be an implication by Jess that Melissa for some reason wouldn’t be teaching the child about her family or her country, simply because she said that she wanted to adopt a baby girl from China. I don’t understand for the life of me why Jess made that assumption from what she said.”
I’m not sure what you’re saying but I assumed Melissa would obviously teach her child about the culture and history of her adoptive family. I was just saying she should be informed of her biological heritage also. I don’t know what Melissa looks like, but I’m assuming unless she’s Asian her child will find out quickly that she doesn’t look like her parents.
I’m not sure what you’re saying but I assumed Melissa would obviously teach her child about the culture and history of her adoptive family. I was just saying she should be informed of her biological heritage also. I don’t know what Melissa looks like, but I’m assuming unless she’s Asian her child will find out quickly that she doesn’t look like her parents.
Why do you assume that Melissa will not teach her child about her biological heritage? Where did that assumption come from?
I just thought I would point out the importance of teaching her child her biological heritage. I think you’ll agree with me that the child would have a harder time growing up because of the fact that she is Asian and also because she is adopted. Many adopted children wonder about their biological heritage and sometimes parents are unwilling to discuss it. I think you’ll agree with me though in this case it is necessary to address the issue as this countries society tends to hold racist views against Asians and it might be hard for someone of a different ethnicity who has probably not had to deal with some of these diversity issues to be fully aware of the need to promote pride and self esteem in the child.
I wasn’t saying Mellisa wouldn’t I was just pointing out it’s important to do so.
“I disagree that China has a “women don’t count attitude.” I mean, if this policy went into effect in America I bet many people would be shooting for a son. Girls are more likely to be aborted then boys, and boys are more likely to get more attention from their parents then girls (ex. they spend more time talking during a family dinner and are more likely to interrupt their sister while she is talking). I don’t think China is any more misogynistic then most other countries in this world.”
Jess –
Many parts of China, as well as Northern India, were traditionally patriarchal and patrilineal societies. This meant that sons took care of aged parents, inherited the family farm and name, and continued the family line. In short, sons stayed with their family, while daughters were married out from their families and into other families and male lines. Daughters were thus viewed as children that parents had to invest in with little return, since the daughters would be required to leave and join their husbands’ households after marriage. Also, in India (and probably China too, though I’m not sure), daughters required costly dowries in order to marry well, or “marry up”, caste-wise. As such, over the centuries, sons came to be viewed as “valuable” children who would bring a family wealth and would safeguard their future, while daughters came to be viewed as costly children who, due to the patrilineal, patrilocal marriage systems, would not contribute to the family later and would not continue the family line.
These systems are vastly different than anything we’ve seen here in this country. In China and India, there was, and to some extent, still is a huge economic and cultural imperative to have sons for these reasons. Here, in the US and in the west generally, we don’t have these traditions. I have never heard of a preference for boys in the US. In fact, I’ve heard that we have slightly more girls being born than boys (about 51% to 49%). Do you have any sources showing a preference for boys here?
S.
“Many parts of China, as well as Northern India, were traditionally patriarchal and patrilineal societies. This meant that sons took care of aged parents, inherited the family farm and name, and continued the family line.”
In America the vast majority of couples take the husbands name and the children take the fathers name. In Western culture for centuries women gave their husbands dowries. In fact a fight over a dowery cause the Hundred Year War in France. There has also been the sexual double standard since the spread of Christianity, women stay at home with the children while men continue the family business, you have to protect your daughters from men so they don’t get disgraced…
According to this study we have more males then females, http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/gender/gratio.html
And apparently daughters wreck American marriages.
http://www.nber.org/digest/oct04/w10281.html
the stereotype of the oppressive Asian man and the submissive hyper-sexual Asian woman.
Jess, I’ve certainly seen the stereotype of the man, but where does that “hyper-sexual” come from, for the woman?
Doug
“When you have Asian American women [who are] ignorant of that history and that the desire from these people goes back to the colonization of Asian countries, the media portrayal of Asian women, and Asian American women being socialized into the white supremacist world of media, it makes perfect sense. Underlying it all is a form of racist love, not an equality.
These Asian American women get hit on or propositioned by white men, but they don
The movie, I think it was Full Metal Jacket, with the famous line, “Me love you long time.”
Jess, I think in one episode of the all-conquering “South Park,’ Eric Cartman is dressed up and made up somewhat like a young geisha, and says, “You give me eight dollar, soldier boy, I love you long time..!”