China's One Child Policy: A Policy Gone Ethically and Socially Wrong?

For years, the People’s Republic of China has been on the radar as the most populous country in the world. Its population has soared dramatically over a few years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s International Data Base, China has reached up to 1.3 billion people. The country has made many attempts to control its growing population and hopefully to stabilize it. One of China’s attempts was the one child policy . This policy decreed that every couple living in urban areas are only allowed to have one child. Those living in the rural areas or minority groups are allowed to have a second child after a five-year break. Since the installment of the one child policy, China has seen the policy’s effectiveness. As the People’s Daily Online, a Communist Party newspaper, reports “… [the policy] has been credited with preventing more than 400 millions births since it was introduced in the late 1970s…” Though the one child policy may seem effective in population control, there have been many social, ethical, and international problems that have risen from this policy.

In a Los Angeles Times article, Luo Cuifen, a 29-years-old Chinese woman, discovered that 23 needles were flowing around in her body (as seen in the image below). It was a surprise to many Chinese surgeons that she has survived until this age. Qu Rui, a spokesman for the Richland International Hospital, asserted that Cuifen was a victim of female infanticide. Also, the surgeons assumed, “the woman’s grandparents may have inserted the needles long ago, hoping she would die and her parents might have a boy in her place.” This discovery has left Cuifen psychological scarred. Cuifen knew her worth every since she was born as she stated, “I knew my grandfather looked down on me because I was a girl, but I had no idea he hated me that much until I found out about the needles.”

After reading the article, I found that it was obvious that the one child policy has become an ethical and social problem in China. Traditionally, many Chinese families prefer to have sons rather than daughters because sons tend to support and stay with the family, whereas daughters leave their family to live with the in-laws. With the installment of the one child policy, couples must resort to female infanticide in order to continue reproducing to get a son. These female infants are either killed right after birth or a forced abortion is done beforehand. This is an unethical crime that these couples commit in order to avoid the raft of the government. As a result, there is now a gender imbalance in China. The number of girls that are killed each year is the reason for this. According to the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China, the male population outnumbers females by 37 million. This is a tremendous gender imbalance, and it has resulted in many unwed and sexually frustrated men.

With such a demand for brides, China is facing a social and international problem of human trafficking or best known as bride trafficking. According to China Daily, young girls from rural areas of China are being kidnapped and sold to Chinese bachelors. These young girls are being separated from their families and are often never seen again. Moreover, bride trafficking is not only occurring within China, but beyond China’s borders. There have been reports of bride trafficking from North Korea, Vietnam, and other Asian countries surrounding China. Similar to the bride trafficking within China, girls are being kidnapped and sold into prostitution or marriage. This is an international matter concerning human rights. The rights of these young girls in China and other Asian countries are being taken away from them as sacrifices to China’s one child policy. Many young girls are being stranded and distanced from their loved ones in a moment’s notice.

As these social problems become more apparent, China has not taken any extreme measures to resolve these issues. China does realize that they are facing a gender imbalance and human trafficking issue, but they have not implemented an effective strategy to resolve it. For instance, China had implemented a “care for girls” policy in 2000 that provided incentives for families with female infants. However, the policy only insures girl-only families in rural areas. This creates a problem because most rural families are farmers, and they need or prefer sons to help them with the heavy works. When theses girls are married off, they leave their family; thus, leaving the family to defend for themselves. On the matter of bride trafficking, China has discussed the matter, but no policies have been implemented. By and large, it is understandable that China is trying to control its growing population, but the current policy has its flaws.