differentiated one child policy - a BBC view.

On BBC news they discuss some of the viewpoints of the one child policy in China. This gives a short overview of some of the issues. Some months ago China once again declared that they would sustain an even stricter one child policy to enforce the development - they say they`ve prevented 400 million births till now since the beginning in 1979 when the policy was first introduced.

Although the rich can afford having more than one child it is unfortunately an arrangement that is hitting the poorest hardest and has lead to further problems such as protests and stripping homes for valuables in order to collect the fines. This has created dislikement amongst the less economic fortunate who are angry with the rich and famous who can write a check each month without noticing much difference in their credit balance and thus plead to the government to stop them from having two and three children. Ironically it has turned out that many of the rich are government officials which doesn`t exactly send out the right message.

The rules are of course not as black and white as most people think. When I was in China I spoke to some of my chinese friends who had siblings who explained to me that if their parents did not have any siblings they could have two or more children. This is just one of the exeptions which most Westerners don`t know about. Thus there are grey areas in this policy which you can read more about here.

One of the major problems China will have to face is that the country will host approx. 40 million single men by 2020 which BBC news has reported on before. What will they do to bring on the next generation? How will this induce sustainable growth within the economy and the future job market?

How will also the low number of young generations be able to take care of the old and elderly? Traditionally families take care of eachother and the elderly are of course provided for by their children. The results are showing already as schools are turned into old people`s homes. As it is getting gradually even more difficult for young people in the cities to move out and get a life of their own due to high living costs and crowded city spaces, they cannot start saving with only their own future in mind.

Traditions haven`t changed in the same pace as the society has changed and so these children still need to attend to many issues by themselves and feeling responsible for the "face" of the family, which previously would be shared on several siblings. The "few" children which the past AND future generations are now relying on, are facing enormous pressure and many fear they cannot live up to this. Many children feel they must live up to an image of the "perfect child", an image arisen due to the fact that the parents only have "one shot" of making it right. It`s a tuff reality.