China and Population Control Take My Baby Please
Take my baby please, the waifish man named Zhou pleaded with my colleague.
He is my second child and illegal. I am allowed only one child.
Grief stricken, my colleague Li glanced at the small child cradled in Zhous thin arms. Sorrowfully Li replied, My wife is also pregnant. I do not know what I can do to help you.
I ask for no money. I just want a better life for her. Can you please take her from me? The man begged.
My friend Li, a masters degreed professional living in Beijing, considered the man.
Zhou, a poor villager from western China, stood before his ramshackle hootch, while his wife tended to their other child. The abject squalor of the mans life did little to dampen his hope in life. However, the power of Chinas communist party, and the family planning officers certainly did.
Population Control in China
That was the story told to me by my colleague, Li.
With a deep sorrow in his voice, Li explained to me that during a recent trip to a remote area of China, he was approached by a poor villager named Zhou who entreated Li to take his baby and provide a better life for her.
Unfortunately, Lis biggest fear was what Chinas family planning body would do if they found out that he had helped the man, and had a child in violation of the one-child policy mandate.
Li went on to explain that the poor villager had told him with tears in his eyes:
I do not know what the government will do if they find out, but this is my second child, she is illegal. I have heard bad things about the family planning officers and I am afraid. I only want to protect my daughter.
The bad things that Zhou had been hearing about range from forced sterilization and/or abortion, to abduction and confiscation of children at the hands of party members.
My friend was in a quandary.
Should he help the villager Zhou, my friend would also run afoul of the laws and could hinder his ability to register his own child.
After several torturous minutes, my colleague shoved 100 rmb notes at the poverty stricken Zhou and wished him well. Li said there was nothing he could do.
The One Child Policy
china and population controlThe one child policy in China, although scheduled to end in 2010, is still in effect and as strong as ever. It is the result of Maoist ideology, which left China with nearly one billion people.
It had been reversed in the late 70′s, resulting in what can only be characterized as a calamity of epic proportions. According to official Chinese sources birth avoidance of over 400 million souls has been successful, thanks to the one-child policy.
While the Chinese defend the policy as a matter of national survival, it is worrisome to see that some people outside of China are lauding the policy as well.
In an article by Diane Francis (1), she explains that if a world law mirroring that of Chinas were enacted, we could reduce the worlds population from its nearly 7 bn, to 5.5bn by 2050 and 3.3bn by 2075.
Wouldnt that be grand?
Ms. Francis reasons are practical, as she explains that a scarcity of resources calls for drastic measures to save planet Earth. Perhaps she, like many others, has forgotten about the overarching results of Chinas policy.
The harsh reality of Chinas one child policy is incredible to say the least.
While walking along the streets of China, one is inundated with signs in Chinese proclaiming that it is a citizens right and obligation to practise family planning.
Forced abortion and/or sterilization is a right?
The unfortunate consequences of the policy are that in an effort to support the one-child policy mandate, government officials have undertaken draconian measures including late term forced abortion and have left China with some 30 million men who will never be able to find a bride to marry.
As if this were not enough, incidences of the trafficking of women to be sold as wives and sex workers is on the rise.
Chinese Government Fails to Accept the Policy Flaws
china and population controlThe Chinese government, however, sees it differently.
According to the Global Times, a newspaper operating under the auspices of the Peoples Daily the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper the West refuses to see and accept the merits of the policy (2).
The paper claims that the one-child policy has kept millions of Chinese from poverty.
The report goes on to bemoan the difficult job of the family planning officers, and the problems they face in achieving their sterilization quotas.
According to one officer, he is no longer allowed to use compulsory measures to force any woman to accept sterilization. They have to do it of their own free will.
The article then proceeds to explain that the planning officer has a quota that 11 women in his village must accept sterilization, but the officer had only succeeded in convincing three.
It contends that the man will gamely fight on as he uses logic, rewards and moral persuasion to convince his villagers to limit the number of children they have.
One can only wonder about a world in which the value of a life can be quantified in monetary terms.
Although the story is from China, perhaps it is about all of us. When mankind can accept, or worse yet condone, such extreme measures and extermination of innocent lives, it is time for us to reflect.
Perhaps it is time that we as a world decide on a common set of beliefs regarding human life, and adhere to them. For if even one of us fails in this regard, then we have all failed.
China and Population Control – Take My Baby Please | Top Secret Writers
A small but vocal minority in China risk jobs and savings to have a forbidden second child - The Washington Post
Take my baby please, the waifish man named Zhou pleaded with my colleague.
He is my second child and illegal. I am allowed only one child.
Grief stricken, my colleague Li glanced at the small child cradled in Zhous thin arms. Sorrowfully Li replied, My wife is also pregnant. I do not know what I can do to help you.
I ask for no money. I just want a better life for her. Can you please take her from me? The man begged.
My friend Li, a masters degreed professional living in Beijing, considered the man.
Zhou, a poor villager from western China, stood before his ramshackle hootch, while his wife tended to their other child. The abject squalor of the mans life did little to dampen his hope in life. However, the power of Chinas communist party, and the family planning officers certainly did.
Population Control in China
That was the story told to me by my colleague, Li.
With a deep sorrow in his voice, Li explained to me that during a recent trip to a remote area of China, he was approached by a poor villager named Zhou who entreated Li to take his baby and provide a better life for her.
Unfortunately, Lis biggest fear was what Chinas family planning body would do if they found out that he had helped the man, and had a child in violation of the one-child policy mandate.
Li went on to explain that the poor villager had told him with tears in his eyes:
I do not know what the government will do if they find out, but this is my second child, she is illegal. I have heard bad things about the family planning officers and I am afraid. I only want to protect my daughter.
The bad things that Zhou had been hearing about range from forced sterilization and/or abortion, to abduction and confiscation of children at the hands of party members.
My friend was in a quandary.
Should he help the villager Zhou, my friend would also run afoul of the laws and could hinder his ability to register his own child.
After several torturous minutes, my colleague shoved 100 rmb notes at the poverty stricken Zhou and wished him well. Li said there was nothing he could do.
The One Child Policy
china and population controlThe one child policy in China, although scheduled to end in 2010, is still in effect and as strong as ever. It is the result of Maoist ideology, which left China with nearly one billion people.
It had been reversed in the late 70′s, resulting in what can only be characterized as a calamity of epic proportions. According to official Chinese sources birth avoidance of over 400 million souls has been successful, thanks to the one-child policy.
While the Chinese defend the policy as a matter of national survival, it is worrisome to see that some people outside of China are lauding the policy as well.
In an article by Diane Francis (1), she explains that if a world law mirroring that of Chinas were enacted, we could reduce the worlds population from its nearly 7 bn, to 5.5bn by 2050 and 3.3bn by 2075.
Wouldnt that be grand?
Ms. Francis reasons are practical, as she explains that a scarcity of resources calls for drastic measures to save planet Earth. Perhaps she, like many others, has forgotten about the overarching results of Chinas policy.
The harsh reality of Chinas one child policy is incredible to say the least.
While walking along the streets of China, one is inundated with signs in Chinese proclaiming that it is a citizens right and obligation to practise family planning.
Forced abortion and/or sterilization is a right?
The unfortunate consequences of the policy are that in an effort to support the one-child policy mandate, government officials have undertaken draconian measures including late term forced abortion and have left China with some 30 million men who will never be able to find a bride to marry.
As if this were not enough, incidences of the trafficking of women to be sold as wives and sex workers is on the rise.
Chinese Government Fails to Accept the Policy Flaws
china and population controlThe Chinese government, however, sees it differently.
According to the Global Times, a newspaper operating under the auspices of the Peoples Daily the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper the West refuses to see and accept the merits of the policy (2).
The paper claims that the one-child policy has kept millions of Chinese from poverty.
The report goes on to bemoan the difficult job of the family planning officers, and the problems they face in achieving their sterilization quotas.
According to one officer, he is no longer allowed to use compulsory measures to force any woman to accept sterilization. They have to do it of their own free will.
The article then proceeds to explain that the planning officer has a quota that 11 women in his village must accept sterilization, but the officer had only succeeded in convincing three.
It contends that the man will gamely fight on as he uses logic, rewards and moral persuasion to convince his villagers to limit the number of children they have.
One can only wonder about a world in which the value of a life can be quantified in monetary terms.
Although the story is from China, perhaps it is about all of us. When mankind can accept, or worse yet condone, such extreme measures and extermination of innocent lives, it is time for us to reflect.
Perhaps it is time that we as a world decide on a common set of beliefs regarding human life, and adhere to them. For if even one of us fails in this regard, then we have all failed.
China and Population Control – Take My Baby Please | Top Secret Writers
A small but vocal minority in China risk jobs and savings to have a forbidden second child - The Washington Post
