Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

China's One Child Policy - can the Chinese afford to continue with the policy?

Twenty-five years after it was launched, China's "One Child" population control policy is credited with cutting population growth to an all time low and contributing to two decades of spectacular economic development. But the costs associated with the policy are also apparent and are rising: a growing proportion of elderly with inadequate government or family support, a disproportionately high number of male births attributable to sex selective abortion, increased female infant and child mortality rates, and the collapse of a credible government birth reporting system. Today, as China contemplates the future of the policy, many argue that a change that allows couples to have two children will not lead to uncontrollable population growth. Instead, it could help meet the fertility desires of most Chinese couples; avoid a worsening of the demographic and social consequences already evident; and relieve the Chinese government of the immense financial and political costs of enforcing an unpopular policy. But changes will need to come soon if China is to avert even greater negative consequences of the policy.

Read the PDF from the attached url and link the strategies and consequences to your work on the theories of Population and Resources.

You might want to download the article and cut and paste sections - it contains a good summary of the points For and Against the One Child Policy


Saturday, 9 February 2008

Divorce Rises because of One Child Policy


A news article from the BBC today says that China's divorce rate has risen by over 20% in the last year. Some people suggest this is a result of the One Child Policy which has produced a generation of adults unable to sustain relationships. Click here to read the full article.

Friday, 16 November 2007

Globalisation in India & China


The following article from the Guardian (26/3/07) outlines some of the problems associated with the rapid development in India and China.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2042942,00.html it is worth reading the full article but some of the main points are below:



  • The city of Linfen, China lies at the heart of a 12-mile industrial belt
    For the past 5 years this city of 3.5 million people has been the most polluted place on the planet, bottom of the World Bank's air quality rankings. The New York-based Blacksmith Institute puts it alongside Chernobyl on a list of the planet's 10 most contaminated places.



  • Linfen symbolises is the cost of development in China. Its economy is growing explosively, leading to a rapid expansion of the middle classes. This in turn has seen a growing appetite for power - leading to coal fired power stations on a vast scale.




  • By 2009 China is predicted to overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.



  • Seventy percent of China's rivers are contaminated.
    In the southern Himalayas, ancient glaciers are melting.



  • Further north, encroaching deserts threaten the livelihoods of 400 million people.



  • Linfen is trying to clean up. By the end of this year, the city aims to close 160 of 196 iron foundries, and 57 of 153 coking plants. By replacing small, dirty and dangerous plants with large, cleaner and more carefully regulated facilities, the local government in Linfen plans to drastically reduce emissions. Central heating will be provided by gas instead of coal.



Read the full article to find out some of the effects of industrial growth and development in India!