by
Eunice Lim
Introduction
A country is said to be overpopulated when the number of people in
an area exceeds that area's resource capacity to sustain human
activities
at a decent standard of living.(1) When the population cannot be
maintained without rapidly depleting nonrenewable resources or
converting
renewable resources into nonrenewable resources quickly enough,
measures
must be taken either to control the population or increase the area's
resources.
The People's Republic of China experienced a population explosion after
World War II that sent its population doubling to 550 million in
1950.
The country's growth of 14 million per year is equal to a new Australia
every year.(2)
With the rapidly developing population situation, the Chinese
government
implemented many policies to curb the population growth. Many of
such policies raised issues surrounding the repression of freedoms and
the demeaning of human rights. This paper will outline the
various
reasons for China's population growth, it's impact and the various
governmental
policies to control population.
China's Population Distribution
China has more people than any other country. By the end of 1995,
one out of every five people in the world lives in China. China had a
population
of 1,211.21 million living on the mainland. By contrast, the
United
States, with the third largest population, accounts for only one of
every
twenty people.(3)
China's population density of 126 people per square kilometer (317
persons
per square mile), according to the 1995 sample survey on one percent of
China's population, is relatively high.(4)
However, China does not have the highest population density in the
world
because of the country's vast land resources. China is the
world's
third largest country in land area (5) 9.3 million square kilometers,
or
3.6 million square miles but the country's mountainous and desert
regions
do not support much inhabitants. Much of the population is
clustered
along the Pacific coast and in several fertile river valleys that
extend
inland, such as the Huang and the Yangtze. The most populous
regions
are in the rural areas where farming and other primary industries make
for a source of livelihood. Eight major cities support more than
two million inhabitants, but three-fourths of the population live in
the
rural areas.(6) The population is distributed with more than 400
people per square kilometer in the coastal areas and the east and more
sparsely populated in the plateau areas in the west with fewer than 10
people per square kilometer.(7) China's population is growing at
the rate of 1.4 percent per year. In 1994, its fertility rate was on
replacement
level, with an average of 1.84 children per woman.(8) Below shows, in
general,
the composition of the population in China:(9) By Gender Male,
51.03%
Female, 48.97% By Region Cities and Towns, 29.04% Countrysides, 70.96%
By Age Below 14 years, 26.81% 15-64 years, 66.96% Above 65 years, 6.23%
China is a United, Multinational Country of 56
Ethnic
Groups
According to the survey, in 1995, the Zhuang ethnic group, the largest
of the 55 ethnic groups, has 15.556 million people, while the Lhoba,
the
smallest, has only 2,322 people.
Problems Related to China's Overpopulation
With such a vast population, China's limited natural and economic
resources
poses a threat to the population. One such problem is the aging
population.
According to the above table, the percentage of people 65 or older is
6.23
percent, but is expected to reach almost 17 percent by 2020.(10)
This change has significant demographic implications because most rural
elderly have no old-age pensions and must rely on their adult children
for support.(11) Also, the population is becoming more
urban.
The 1990 census estimated China's urban population at 297 million, an
increase
of nearly 90 million since 1982.(12) Beijing's population
increased
by 17 percent and Shanghai's by 13 percent during this period.
However,
the rate of natural increase was estimated at eight percent and the
growth
rate was attributed to migration to these cities such as Beijing and
Shanghai.
Such statistics reflect the mounting population shifts that could be
attributed
to the economic reforms of the 1980s and the decollectivization of
agriculture.
In 1949, 541.67 million lived on the mainland. Lacking controls,
appropriate education and experience, the improvement of people's
living
standards led to a rapid increase in China's population. The
population
reached 806.71 million by 1969.(13) Over the last 40 years,
China's
agriculture, cities, energy supplies and forests have all come under
increasing
stress because of the population which has more than doubled.
With
increased consumption of resources, the need for fuel has lead to the
destruction
of forests, for example.(14) Such population pressures may have
encouraged
people to seek work in the cities and migrate from their rural
dwellings.
In time, urban stresses such as pollution are magnified.
China's Population Policies
Facing serious problems of overpopulation, the Chinese government acted
forcefully to reduce the number of children in China. Government
policies included legislating family planning to control population
growth.
The most basic demands of family planning are that couples start
marrying
later in life, and hence start having children later in life. The
government
also initiated the one-child policy. Couples received financial
subsidies,
longer maternity leave, better housing and even more land if they
signed
one-child agreement contracts. In rural areas, couples with the
shortage
of labor power or other difficulties were allowed to have a second
child,
with a minimum three-year gap between the first and second child and
upon
obtaining the necessary governmental approvals. In areas
inhabited
by minority peoples, couples may have more children, subject to
governmental
approval. Families with more than one child without government
approval
had to pay hefty fines, amounting to five-10 percent of income for up
to
10 years, or be denied job promotions and other incentives. Some
officials in rural villages went so far as to maintain records of
women's
menstrual cycles to assure that no unplanned babies were
born.(15)
The government also prohibited marriage for men under the age of 22 and
women under the age of 20. To further discourage births, the government
gave free contraceptives, abortions and sterilization. The
Chinese
government sees its family planning policies as contributing to two
basic
goals: controlling the population and improving the quality of the
population.(16)
The reasons behind the late marriage policy was to ensure fewer births
of children with genetic defects. The Chinese government promotes
this ideal on the pretense that having fewer but healthier babies will
control the population.(17) The practice of one couple, one child
and promoting birth spacing between children among rural couples who
want
another child further discouraged population growth.
Results of China's Population Control Policies
Such policies have made substantial progress in reducing the rate of
natural increase in China. Growth declined from approximately 2.0
percent per year in the 1950s to 1.2 percent during the
mid-1980s.(18)
Since the family planning program was initiated in the 1970s, the birth
rate has declined each year. By the end of 1995, the birth rate
dropped
to 17.12 per thousand from 34.11 per thousand in 1969, and the natural
growth rate declined to 10.55 per thousand from 26.08 per
thousand.(19)
At present, the population reproduction in China has basically realized
the conversion to low birth rates, low death rates and low overall
growth
rates. The PRC has established the target of curbing the number
of
people to 1.3 billion by 2000.(20) This will put the natural
population
growth rate to under 10 per thousand. In 1992, the government
spent
an annual of 6 billion Yuan or US$ 1.1 billion on family planning.
Problems with China's Population Control Policies
The Communist Party appears to have moved toward stricter adherence
to the one-child policy, ruling the use of Intra-Uterine Devices,
sterilization,
and pregnancy termination in specified circumstances.(21)
Such regulations have sparked major controversies in human rights
issues
across the world. Another problem is female infanticide.
The
Chinese preferred male children over females because of cultural
tradition,
and also that males were regarded as stronger and better able to help
with
the farming and later, support the aging parents. As a result,
the
one-child policy drove many families to kill or abandon their baby
girls.(22)
Also, the government enforced mandatory abortions of unauthorized
pregnancies
when detected regardless of stage of pregnancy. Various reports
of
various abortion procedures such as using forceps to crush the baby's
skull
and injecting pure formaldehyde into the soft cap of a new-born's head
have sparked human rights outcry over the years.(23)
Other controversial governmental policies include mandatory insertion
of
an IUD or sterilization into women with one child. Women who
resisted
abortions were harassed, visited repeatedly and sometimes arrested
until
they complied. The government also carried out night raids to
capture
women hiding or trying to flee from birth planning workers.
Illegal
children received no medical or education benefits because they were
not
entered on the population register. Although the Chinese
government
policies for population control resulted in curbing the population
growth
relatively well, they remain morally questionable.
Conclusion
Despite the recent increases, China is like to maintain a much lower
natural increase rate into the 21st century. After years of
intensive
educational programs, and even coercion, many Chinese have accepted the
benefits of family planning. Even as China moves closer to a
marker
economy, more women would recognize that having fewer children opens
greater
opportunities to obtain jobs and earn more money. Even as human
rights
activists around the world berate China on their family planning
policies,
the results of government legislation and implementation cannot be
discounted
in successfully containing the population explosion.
Footnotes
1. James M. Rubenstein, An Introduction to Human Geography, 5th ed.
(New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996), 94.
2. A. A. Bennet, "China's population and it's economic boom," http://www.physics.iastate.edu/gcp/energy/china.html.
3. World Resources Institute, "China's Population Future,"
http://www.wri.org/wri/enved/giants/chi-pop.html,
1994-95.
4. China Today, http://www.chinaolympics.com/ctoday/populat.htm, 1996.
5. Rubenstein, 29.
6. Ibid., 60.
7. China Today.
8. World Resources Institute. 9. China Today.
10. People's Republic of China Yearbook 1992-1993, 8 [hereinafter PRC Yearbook].
11. ibid.
12. World Resources Institute.
13. China Today.
14. Xiao Zili, "Integration of Population With Development: China's Practice," China Population Today, August 1994, 10.
15. Rubenstein, 93.
16. Michael Palmer, "The Re-emergence of Family Law in Post-Mao China: Marriage, Divorce and Reproduction," 141 China Quarterly 110, 126 (March 1995).
17. ibid. 18. Ibid., 92.
19. China Today.
20, ibid.
21. The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, Inc. "Women of the World," http://www.echonyc.com/~jmkm/wotw/china.popfam.html, 1995.
22 Rubenstein, 93.
23 One-Child Population Control Policy of Communist China, http://www.forerunner.com/lci/X0004_Population_Control_C.html
Works Cited
A. A. Bennet, "China's population and it's economic boom,"
http://www.physics.iastate.edu/gcp/energy/china.html
China Today, http://www.chinaolympics.com/ctoday/populat.htm, 1996.
One-Child Population Control Policy of Communist China, http://www.forerunner.com/lci/X0004_Population_Control_C.html
Palmer, M. "The Re-emergence of Family Law in Post-Mao China: Marriage, Divorce and Reproduction," 141 China Quarterly 110, 126 (March 1995).
People's Republic of China Yearbook 1992-1993, No. 8
Rubenstein, J. M., An Introduction to Human Geography, 5th ed. (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996).
The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, Inc. "Women of the World," http://www.echonyc.com/~jmkm/wotw/china.popfam.html, 1995.
World Resources Institute, "China's Population Future,"
http://www.wri.org/wri/enved/giants/chi-pop.html,
1994-95.
Xiao, Z., "Integration of Population With Development: China's Practice," China Population Today, August 1994.
Created April 16, 1997
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