China
INTRODUCTION
China for centuries has had an extremely high population for the size of the country. The density of Canada’s population today is approximately 3.2 people per kilometre squared, while China’s is approximately 143 people per square kilometre (TradingEconomics.Com). In over-populated countries, there will come a time when the country will not be able to sustain or feed the people that populate it. This is when population control becomes an issue for the country and government. This policy limits couples from having more than one child in urban areas. China is the only country to have gone this far on the population control scale. The Chinese government knew the many problems that an overpopulated country could undergo. Economic stress, pollution, resource depletion and starvation are some of the main problems with having an overpopulated country. In order for a better life for the majority of the country, the government thought ahead and limited the freedoms of families in China. To facilitate and enforce this law, parents had to obtain birth certificates for children before they were born so that the government could monitor the families and population control at the same time.
THESIS STATEMENT Other than population control, the “One Child Policy” had an effect on many other areas of life in China.
HISTORY OF CHINA’S “ONE CHILD POLICY”
Talk of population control started after the formation of the People’s Republic in 1949. China had been an extremely industrialized country and it demanded a high number of labourers. Since companies and factories needed workers, the political leaders hesitated when acting on population control. Being a Communist country, the Chinese people have had to make sacrifices and commitments in order to implement the goals of China as a nation. The one child policy followed The Great Leap Forward (1961-65), which was China’s attempt to achieve rapid, national