Chinese One-Birth Policy

In the decades prior to 1978, China encouraged large families. Mothers of 5 or 6 children were given metals for this achievement. Moa believed that if China made a large enough population, nobody could defeat them, even with atomic bombs.

In 1978 China adopted the “single birth” policy. They realized they would have difficulty feeding and educating their population unless it was limited.

The policy is more complicated than I had realized. It is “single birth,” not “single child.” If you have twins in a single birth, that is okay.

But, there are lots of exceptions. For farmers, 2 is okay because of the labor needed on farms. Further if you are part of a minority, you may have two children. There are 56 different races in China, with the majority being Han at 93%. Some of the smallest minorities can have 3 children.

Even a Han couple can have a second child, but they pay a fine of about $10,000 US to pay the government for the added costs to the socialist system that the second child will require. Beyond this there are further fees for schooling and health care for any child beyond your quota.

Because of the results of 31 years of this policy, now in certain cities a Han couple who each are single children are permitted to have 2 children.

I had read that this policy has resulted in holding China’s projected population to peak about 20 years from now at 1.8billion (vs 1.3 billion today), whereas if the policy had not been in effect, it would have peaked in 35 years or so well into the 2 and a half billion. I understand that India is now expected to surpass China in population 30-40 years from now.

Regardless of one’s feelings about China’s birth policy, they would not have been able to achieve the development rate that they have without this type of approach. There are 13 separate Ming Tombs for the various emperors from the Ming dynasty. These had the same layout as the other palaces.