China ends one child policy

[sureLoss]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34665539

All couples will now be allowed to have two children, the state-run news agency said, citing a statement from the Communist Party.

The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to reduce the country's birth rate and slow the population growth rate.

However, concerns at China's ageing population led to pressure for change.
The one-child policy is estimated to have prevented about 400m births since it began.

Couples who violated the policy faced a variety of punishments, from fines and the loss of employment to forced abortions.

Over time, the policy was relaxed in some provinces, as demographers and sociologists raised concerns about rising social costs and falling worker numbers.

The Communist Party began formally relaxing national rules two years ago, allowing couples in which at least one of the pair is an only child to have a second child.

[Baron von Kriterium]

"The plebes may now breed!"

Then there is Denmark's solution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrO3TfJc9Qw

[burn_this_city]

They probably realized your economy can't continue to grow if your population is in structural decline.

[Fuzz]

"We're gonna need a bigger pool..."

[Thor]

The obvious consequence was the killing of infant girls, especially in the rural areas as they wanted boys to work their farms.

[JohnnyB]

The rules have already been more complex than just one child per family. There were other considerations for rural families and any couple made up of two people who were each sibling-free could already have two children, so it's not that big a change.

The more powerful force driving many couples to have a single child nowadays is the cost of raising kids.

[Huntingwhale]

It still blows my mind that a country like china was 1.whatever billion people and Canada only has ~35M.

[peter12]

As Thor said, the rules are considerably more complex. Previous attempts to relax restrictions has had little to no effect. The signal is that the Chinese leadership has finally figured out their country is headed for a demographic cliff. The country already has 400 million dependents!

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah and a bunch of teenage boys looking around and saying hey man "where's the chicks"

[peter12]

Marginal Revolution, a libertarian blog, just had a good post up debating the actual cause of China's dramatic decline in fertility. Probably following the same trends of the rest of the world - increased investment in the health and education of children.

http://marginalrevolution.com/margin...-benefits.html

[Language]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

It still blows my mind that a country like china was 1.whatever billion people and Canada only has ~35M.

Same here. I always get a kick out of some articles that will mention some random 'mid-size' Chinese city of 4-5 million people. And I think I'm generally good with geography.

[FlamesAddiction]

They probably realized that it was either this, or opening up to immigration one day to support the aging population.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

They probably realized that it was either this, or opening up to immigration one day to support the aging population.

I have my doubts about that ever happening, the Chinese have a streak of racial superiority a mile wide and have the whole Middle Kingdom thing going.

[GirlySports]

opening immigration = invading someone (ie. Vietnam)

[CaptainCrunch]

I remember reading one debate about the One Child rule and its effect on the female population because people were chucking baby daughters down the well. One senior unnamed official argued against it, not from the provision that late term no choice abortions were barbaric, or murdering daughters was barbaric.

But that young men, in the absence of young woman, would flip the switch out of loneliness and become homosexuals, and that was bad for the state because ewww.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I remember reading one debate about the One Child rule and its effect on the female population because people were chucking baby daughters down the well. One senior unnamed official argued against it, not from the provision that late term no choice abortions were barbaric, or murdering daughters was barbaric.

But that young men, in the absence of young woman, would flip the switch out of loneliness and become homosexuals, and that was bad for the state because ewww.

I don't think you can flip the switch, that's propaganda. Guys would just remain single or get brides from other countries like Russia or SE Asia.

On the flip side I think the one-child policy has empowered women (those that did not get chucked down a well). Girls who are the only child of a family are treated like boys were traditionally and given power to work and make the future family decisions (ie. run the family business).

[Harry Lime]

China's population sits at 1.35 Billion. India's population sits at 1.25 Billion, without restriction. It wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that there is a fear of external pressure, both economically and for the release of the Tibetan region, if India's population dramatically passes China's in the coming generation.

I am so happy that Canada's population is only 35 Million. Those numbers are difficult to wrap your head around.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't think you can flip the switch, that's propaganda. Guys would just remain single or get brides from other countries like Russia or SE Asia.

On the flip side I think the one-child policy has empowered women (those that did not get chucked down a well). Girls who are the only child of a family are treated like boys were traditionally and given power to work and make the future family decisions (ie. run the family business).

I don't think you can flip a switch, but I see sexuality as more of a spectrum with individuals falling on different sides, and a whole lot of people somewhere in the middle. Having a steep gender cliff like that could affect sexual behavior of some people in a population, but it probably wouldn't move them to a different place on the spectrum that they weren't already. They might just accept a different reality.

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm not saying they could flip a switch, but this official believed that they could.

He worried that their army would suddenly be filled with minicing nancy boys or something

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

They probably realized your economy can't continue to grow if your population is in structural decline.

It might be too late. Some economists have suggested that China has already missed its chance to enjoy the widespread prosperity Japan saw in the late 20th century, and go directly from growing powerhouse to demographically challenged stagnation.

Of course, Canada, and the rest of the West, are in structural decline owing to demographics. But try to explain that to the anti-immigration types in this country, especially Boomers and older Canadians, and they flip out.

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I remember reading one debate about the One Child rule and its effect on the female population because people were chucking baby daughters down the well. One senior unnamed official argued against it, not from the provision that late term no choice abortions were barbaric, or murdering daughters was barbaric.

But that young men, in the absence of young woman, would flip the switch out of loneliness and become homosexuals, and that was bad for the state because ewww.

Rural China has also seen the revival of an old tradition of male siblings sharing a wife.

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't think you can flip the switch, that's propaganda. Guys would just remain single or get brides from other countries like Russia or SE Asia.

Actually, there are many historical examples of gender disparities (owing to female infanticide, polygamy, or isolation) leading to the normalization of male/male sex. Sometimes it's a temporary situation - prisons, the navy, or boarding schools. In places where polygamy is practised, and the women are all attached to older and wealthier men, it's more ingrained. That's not to say homosexuality becomes accepted. More a case of young men and adolescents being sexually preyed on by older men.