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{{Infobox Chinese
|title='''One-child policy'''
|pic=Chinese family with one child at Beihai Park, Beijing.jpg
|piccap=A one-child Chinese family at a park in Beijing
|t=計劃生育政策
|s=计划生育政策
|p=jìhuà shēngyù zhèngcè
|l=family planning policy
}}
The '''family planning policy''', known as the '''one-child policy''' in the West,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/celt/eng/zt/zfbps/t125241.htm | title=Family Planning in China | accessdate=27 October 2008 | publisher=Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Lithuania| author=Information Office of the State Council Of the People's Republic of China and Afghanistan | date=August 1995}} Section III paragraph 2.</ref> is a [[Human population control|population control]] policy of the [[China|People's Republic of China]]. The term "one-child" is inexact as the policy allows many exceptions and [[Ethnic minorities in China|ethnic minorities]] are exempt. In 2007, 36% of China's population was subject to a strict one-child restriction;<ref name=mostpeople>{{cite web | url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/11/content_5432238.htm | title=Most people free to have more child | date=2007-07-11 | accessdate = 2009-07-31|work=[[China Daily]]}}</ref> an additional 53% was allowed to have a second child if the first was a girl.<ref name=australian/> The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. "Population and Family Planning Commissions" exist at every level of government to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work.<ref name=dewey>{{cite web|author=Dewey, Arthur E. Dewey|title=One-Child Policy in China|publisher=Senior State Department|date= 16 December 2004|url=http://statelists.state.gov/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0412c&L=dossdo&P=401|archivedate=4 October 2011}}</ref>

The policy was introduced in 1979 to alleviate social, economic and [[environmental problems in China]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Rocha da Silva, Pascal|year=2006 |url=http://www.sinoptic.ch/textes/recherche/2006/200608_Rocha.Pascal_memoire.pdf |title=La politique de l'enfant unique en République populaire de Chine |trans_title=The politics of one child in the People's Republic of China |publisher=[[University of Geneva]] |pages=22–28|language=fr}}</ref> Demographers estimate that the policy averted at least 200 million births between 1979 and 2009.<ref name=boston.com>{{cite web| url = http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2011/10/27/chinas_touting_of_1_child_rules_draws_challenges/ | title = Experts challenge China's 1-child population claim }}</ref> A 2008 survey undertaken by the [[Pew Research Center]] reported that 76% of the Chinese population supports the policy;<ref>{{cite web| url = http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=261 | title = The Chinese Celebrate Their Roaring Economy, As They Struggle With Its Costs| date = 2008-07-22| accessdate = 2009-07-31|work=Pew Global Attitudes Project}}</ref> however, it is controversial outside China for many reasons, including accusations of human rights abuses in the implementation of the policy, as well as concerns about negative social consequences.<ref name="policy outgrown">{{cite journal|author= Hvistendahl, Mara |title= Has China Outgrown The One-Child Policy? |journal=Science|pages= 1458–1461 |volume= 329 |date= 17 September 2010|doi= 10.1126/science.329.5998.1458|pmid= 20847244|issue= 5998}}</ref>

==Overview==

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px"
! colspan="4" style="text-align:center; background:#cfb;"| Population in China
|-
! style="background:#cfb;"| Year
! style="background:#cfb;"| Million
! style="background:#cfb;"| Change
! style="background:#cfb;"| Change / year
|-
| align="centre" | 1964 || align="centre"| 694.6 || align="centre"| ------- || align="centre"| -------
|-
| align="centre" | 1982 || align="centre"| 1008.2 || align="centre"| + 313.6 || align="centre"| + 17.42
|-
| align="centre" | 2000 || align="centre"| 1265.8 || align="centre"| + 257.6 || align="centre"| + 14.31
|-
| align="centre" | 2010 || align="centre"| 1339.7 || align="centre"| + 73.9 || align="centre"| + 7.39
|-
| colspan=4 align=centre | <small>Source: [[Demographics of China|Census of China]]</small>
|}
[[File:ChinaDemography.svg|thumb|350px|Population of China, showing growth despite the one-child policy]]

===History===
During the period of [[Mao Zedong]]'s leadership in China, the crude birth rate fell from 37 to 20 per thousand,<ref name=gg.it>{{cite journal|url=http://www.globalgeografia.it/temi/Population%20Growth%20in%20China.pdf |title=Population Growth in China: The Basic Characteristics of China's Demographic Transition |author=Bergaglio, Maristella}}</ref> infant mortality declined from 227/1000 births in 1949 to 53/1000 in 1981, and life expectancy dramatically increased from around 35 years in 1948 to 66 years in 1976.<ref name=gg.it/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.co.nz/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_dyn_le00_in&idim=country:CHN&dl=en&hl=en&q=life+expectancy+china#ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=sp_dyn_le00_in&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=country&idim=country:CHN&ifdim=country&tstart=-284745600000&tend=220176000000&hl=en&dl=en |title=World Development Indicators|publisher=Google Public Data Explorer |date=2009-07-01 |accessdate=2013-10-04}} Data from the [[World Bank]]</ref> Until the 1960s, the government encouraged families to have as many children as possible<ref name="mann19920607">{{cite news | url=http://articles.latimes.com/print/1992-06-07/magazine/tm-411_1_lu-gang | title=The Physics of Revenge: When Dr. Lu Gang's American Dream Died, Six People Died With It | work=Los Angeles Times Magazine | date=1992-06-07 | accessdate=July 14, 2012 | author=Mann, Jim}}</ref> because of Mao's belief that population growth empowered the country, preventing the emergence of family planning programs earlier in China's development.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Potts|first=M.|title=China's one child policy|journal=BMJ|date=19 August 2006|volume=333|issue=7564|pages=361–362|doi=10.1136/bmj.38938.412593.80|pmc=1550444|url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1550444/|pmid=16916810}}</ref> The population grew from around 540 million in 1949 to 940 million in 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010census/2010-08/20/content_11182379.htm |title=Total population, CBR, CDR, NIR and TFR of China (1949–2000) |work=China Daily |accessdate=2013-10-04}}</ref> Beginning in 1970, citizens were encouraged to marry at later ages and [[Two-child policy|have only two children]].

Although the fertility rate began to decline significantly, the Chinese government observed the global debate over a possible overpopulation catastrophe suggested by organisations such as [[Club of Rome]] and [[Sierra Club]]. While visiting Europe in 1978 one of the top Chinese officials, Song Jian, got in touch with influential books of the movement, [[The Limits to Growth]] and [[A Blueprint for Survival]]. With a group of mathematicians, Song determined the "correct" population of China to be 700 million. A plan was prepared to reduce the China's population to the desired level by 2080, with the one child policy as one of the main instruments of social engineering.<ref>{{cite book | title=Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism | publisher=[[The New Atlantis (journal)|The New Atlantis]] | author=Zubrin, Robert | year=2012 | location=2646 | isbn=978-1594034763}}</ref> In spite of some criticism inside the party, the plan was officially adopted in 1979.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Zhu|first=W X|title=The One Child Family Policy|journal=Archives of Disease in Childhood|date=1 June 2003|volume=88|issue=6|pages=463–464|doi=10.1136/adc.88.6.463|pmid=12765905|pmc=1763112}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html#People|title=East and Southeast Asia: China|work=CIA World Factbook}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|authorlink=Ansley J. Coale|author=Coale, Ansley J.|url=http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/ckshih/ANG6366/1116/Coale%201981.pdf|title=Population Trends, Population Policy, and Population Studies in China|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=7|date=Mar 198|jstor=1972766|issue=1}} Coale shows detailed birth and death data up to 1979, and gives a cultural background to the famine in 1959–61.</ref>

=== Administration ===
The policy was managed by the [[National Population and Family Planning Commission]] under the central government since 1981. The [[Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China]] and the National Health and Family Planning Commission were made defunct and a new single agency [[National Health and Family Planning Commission]] took over national health and family planning policies in 2013. The agency reports to the State Council.

===Current status===
The one-child policy was originally designed to be a one-generation policy.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=A0-la2vliXwC&pg=PA179 |first=Vanessa L. |author=Fong |title=Only Hope: Coming of Age Under China's One-Child Policy |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2004 |page=179 |isbn=9780804753302}}</ref> It is enforced at the [[provinces of the People's Republic of China|provincial level]] and enforcement varies; some provinces have relaxed the restrictions. After [[Henan]] loosened the requirement, the majority of provinces and cities<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_china/ch_record060.htm | date=5 April 2000 | accessdate=29 October 2008 | title=Regulations on Family Planning of Henan Province | publisher=Henan Daily|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709054044/http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_china/ch_record060.htm|archivedate=9 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.afinance.cn/new/gncj/201207/465498.html | date=6 July 2012 | accessdate=17 July 2012 | script-title=zh:国务院专家:建议全面放开二胎 | publisher=yaolan.com|language=zh}} Article 13.</ref> permit two parents who were 'only children' themselves to have two children. In rural areas, families are allowed two children without incurring penalties.<ref name=NYT72212>{{cite news|title=Reports of Forced Abortions Fuel Push to End Chinese Law|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/pressure-to-repeal-chinas-one-child-law-is-growing.html|accessdate=July 23, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 22, 2012|author=Wong, Edward}}</ref> The one-child limit has mostly been enforced in densely populated urban areas, and implementation varies from location to location.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific]] |url=http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/chinadata/intro.htm|title=Status of Population and Family Planning Program in China by Province |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330215041/http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/chinadata/intro.htm |archivedate=30 March 2012}}</ref> Beginning in 1987, official policy granted local officials the flexibility to make exceptions and allow second children in the case of "practical difficulties" (such as cases in which the father is a disabled serviceman) or when both parents are single children,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD81F3BF937A15752C0A961948260 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=4 January 1987 | accessdate=27 October 2008 | title=America, the U.N. and China's Family Planning (Opinion) | last=Scheuer | first=James}}</ref> and some provinces had other exemptions worked into their policies as well. In most areas, families are allowed to apply to have a second child if their first-born is a daughter.<ref name=huiting2002>{{cite news | url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2002/Oct/46138.htm | title=Family Planning Law and China's Birth Control Situation | newspaper=[[China Daily]] | author=Hu, Huiting | date=18 October 2002 | accessdate=2 March 2009}}</ref> Furthermore, families with children with [[disability in China]] have different policies and families whose first child suffers from [[Disability|physical disability]], [[mental illness]], or [[intellectual disability]] are allowed to have more children.<ref>{{cite episode | url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/listseason/11.html | title=China's Only Child | series=NOVA | serieslink=Nova (TV series) | network=PBS | date=14 February 1984 | accessdate=13 October 2009}}</ref> Second children may be subject to [[birth spacing]] (usually 3 or 4 years). Children born in overseas countries are not counted under the policy if they do not obtain [[Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China|Chinese citizenship]]. Chinese citizens returning from abroad are allowed to have a second child.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/28/content_770107.htm |title=Are the rich challenging family planning policy? |newspaper=China Daily |date=2006-12-28 |author=Qiang, Guo}}</ref> Sichuan province has allowed exemptions for couples of certain backgrounds.<ref>see Articles 11–13, {{cite web | url=http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_china/ch_record075.htm | date=17 October 1997 | accessdate=31 October 2008 | title=Revised at the 29th session of the standing committee of the 8th People's Congress of Sichuan Province | publisher=[[United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific]] |archivedate=6 July 2008|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706102031/http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_china/ch_record075.htm}}</ref> By one estimate there are now at least 22 ways in which parents can qualify for exceptions to the law.<ref name="NYT72212"/> As of 2007, only 35.9% of the population were subject to a strict one-child limit. 52.9% were permitted to have a second child if their first was a daughter; 9.6% of Chinese couples were permitted two children regardless of their gender; and 1.6%—mainly [[Tibetan people|Tibetans]]—had no limit at all.<ref name= australian>{{cite news| url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/china-relaxes-its-one-child-policy/story-e6frg6so-1111112880730 | first=Rowan | last=Callick | title=China relaxes its one-child policy | date=24 January 2007 | work=The Australian}}</ref>

[[File:Danshan Nongguang Village Bulletin board.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|left|The Danshan, Sichuan Province Nongchang Village people Public Affairs Bulletin Board in September 2005 noted that [[Renminbi|RMB]] 25,000 in social compensation fees were owed in 2005. Thus far 11,500 RMB had been collected leaving another 13,500 RMB to be collected.]]

Following the [[2008 Sichuan earthquake]], a new exception to the regulations was announced in [[Sichuan province]] for parents who had lost children in the earthquake.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/world/asia/27child.html|title=One-Child Policy Lifted for Quake Victims' Parents|author=Jacobs, Andrew Jacobs|newspaper=The New York Times|date=27 May 2008|accessdate=28 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7440480.stm|title=Baby offer for earthquake parents|publisher=BBC|accessdate=31 October 2008}}</ref> Similar exceptions have previously been made for parents of severely disabled or deceased children.<ref>{{cite web|work=Morning Edition |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90931455 |title=China Amends Child Policy for Some Quake Victims |publisher=NPR}}</ref> People have also tried to evade the policy by giving birth to a second child in [[Hong Kong]], but at least for Guangdong residents, the one-child policy is also enforced if the birth was given in Hong Kong or abroad.<ref>{{cite web|author=Tan, Kenneth |url=http://shanghaiist.com/2012/02/09/hong_kong_to_issue_blanket_ban_on_m.php |title=Hong Kong to issue blanket ban on mothers from the mainland? |publisher=Shanghaiist |date=2012-02-09 |accessdate=2013-10-04}}</ref>

In accordance with China's [[affirmative action in China|affirmative action]] policies towards [[List of ethnic groups in China|ethnic minorities]], all non-[[Han Chinese|Han]] ethnic groups are subjected to different laws and are usually allowed to have two children in urban areas, and three or four in rural areas. Han Chinese living in rural towns are also permitted to have two children.<ref name="yardley">{{cite news | last=Yardley | first=Jim | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=11 May 2008 | accessdate=20 November 2008 | title=China Sticking With One-Child Policy | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/world/asia/11china.html?_r=2}}</ref> Because of couples such as these, as well as urban couples who simply pay a fine (or "social maintenance fee") to have more children,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-12/14/content_3918776.htm|title=New rich challenge family planning policy|work=[[Xinhua]]}}</ref> the overall [[fertility rate]] of mainland China is close to 1.4 children per woman.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/18651512 |title=The most surprising demographic crisis |newspaper=The Economist |date=5 May 2011 |accessdate=25 February 2013}}</ref>

The Family Planning Policy is enforced through a financial penalty in the form of the "social child-raising fee", sometimes called a "family planning fine" in the West, which is collected as a fraction of either the annual disposable income of city dwellers or of the annual cash income of peasants, in the year of the child's birth.<ref>[[commons:Image:Sichuan social fostering fee schedule.jpg#file|Summary of Family Planning notice on how FP fines are collected]]</ref> E.g. in Guangdong, the fee is between 3 and 6 annual incomes for incomes below the per capita income of the district, plus 1 to 2 times the annual income exceeding the average. Both members of the couple need to pay the fine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/224913.htm |title=Heavy Fine for Violators of One-Child Policy |accessdate=2013-10-04}}</ref>

==Effects==

===Reduction of the birthrate===
[[File:China Pop Pyramid Forecast.gif|thumb|upright=2.0|Progression of China's [[population pyramid]] from [[International Futures]]]]
An April 2007 study taken by the [[University of California, Irvine]], which claimed to be the first systematic study of the policy, found that it had proved "remarkably effective".<ref name='Irvine'>{{cite news | first= | last= | title=First systematic study of China's one-child policy reveals complexity, effectiveness of fertility regulation |date=April 18, 2007 | publisher=University of California Irvine | url =http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1597 | work =Today@UCI | accessdate = 2007-04-19 }}</ref> After the introduction of the one-child policy, the [[Total fertility rate|fertility rate]] in China fell from 2.63 births per woman in 1980 (already a sharp reduction from more than five births per woman in the early 1970s) to 1.61 in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_dyn_tfrt_in&idim=country:CHN&dl=en&hl=en&q=total+fertility+rate+china |title=World Development Indicators|publisher=Google Public Data Explorer |date=2009-07-01 |accessdate=2013-10-04}} Data from the World Bank.</ref> The Chinese government, quoting Zhai Zhenwu, director of Renmin University's School of Sociology and Population in Beijing, estimates that 400 million births were prevented by the one-child policy as of 2011. Zhai clarified that the 400 million estimate referred not just to the one-child policy, but includes births prevented by predecessor policies implemented one decade before, stating that "there are many different numbers out there but it doesn't change the basic fact that the policy prevented a really large number of births."<ref name=boston.com/> However, some demographers have argued that the policy itself is only partially responsible for the reduction in the total fertility rate.<ref name="Hasketh">{{cite journal|first=Therese|last=Hasketh|author2=Lu, Li|author3=Xing, Zhu Wei|url=http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/11/1171|title=The effects of China's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years|journal=New England Journal of Medicine|volume=353|issue=11|date=September 15, 2005|pages=1171–1176|doi=10.1056/NEJMhpr051833|pmid=16162890}}</ref>

===Sex-based birth rate disparity===
[[File:Sex ratio at birth in mainland China.png|thumb|404px|Sex ratio at birth in mainland China, males per 100 females, 1980–2010.]]
{{details|Missing women of Asia}}
The [[human sex ratio|sex ratio]] at birth (between male and female births) in [[mainland China]] reached 117:100 and remained steady between 2000 and 2013, substantially higher than the natural baseline, which ranges between 103:100 and 107:100. It had risen from 108:100 in 1981—at the boundary of the natural baseline—to 111:100 in 1990.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cicred.org/Eng/Seminars/Details/Seminars/FDA/papers/18_ChenWei.pdf<!-- | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060718153354/http://www.cicred.org/Eng/Seminars/FDA/papers/18_ChenWei.pdf | archivedate=18 July 2006--> | author=Wei, Chen | title=Sex Ratios at Birth in China | year=2005 | accessdate=2 March 2009}}</ref>{{Verify credibility|date=March 2009}} According to a report by the [[National Population and Family Planning Commission]], there will be 30 million more men than women in 2020, potentially leading to social instability, and courtship-motivated [[emigration]].<ref>{{cite news| title = Chinese facing shortage of wives| publisher = BBC| date = 2007-01-12| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6254763.stm| accessdate = 2007-01-12}}</ref>

[[File:Guanyin Who Sends Children -- Danshan Sichuan temple.jpg|thumb|left|"The Guanyin Who Sends Children" in a temple in the small town of [[Danshan]], [[Sichuan]]. ]]

The disparity in the sex ratio at birth increases dramatically after the first birth, for which the ratios remained steadily within the natural baseline over the 20 year interval between 1980 and 1999. Thus, a large majority of couples appear to accept the outcome of the first pregnancy, whether it is a boy or a girl. If the first child is a girl, and they are able to have a second child, then a couple may take extraordinary steps to assure that the second child is a boy. If a couple already has two or more boys, the sex ratio of higher parity births swings decidedly in a feminine direction.<ref>This tendency to favour girls in high parity births to couples who had already borne sons was also noted by Coale, who suggested as well that once a couple had achieved its goal for the number of males, it was also much more likely to engage in "stopping behavior", i.e., to stop having more children. See {{cite journal|author=Coale, Ansley J.|authorlink=Ansley J. Coale|year=1996|title=Five Decades of Missing Females in China|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=140|issue=4|pages=421–450|pmid=7828766|jstor=987286|doi=10.2307/2061752}}</ref>

===Adoption===
[[File:PRC family planning don't abandon girls.jpg|thumb|Rural [[Sichuan]] roadside sign: "It is forbidden to discriminate against, mistreat or abandon baby girls."]] The one child policy of China has made it more expensive for parents with children to adopt, which may have had an effect upon the numbers of children living in state-sponsored orphanages. However, in the 1980s and early 1990s, poor care and high mortality rates in some state institutions generated intense international pressure for reform.<ref>{{cite book|title=Death by Default:A Policy of Fatal Neglect in China's State Orphanages|year=1996|author=Human Rights Watch/Asia|location=New York|isbn=1-56432-163-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/china96.pdf|title=Chinese Orphanages: A Follow-up|author=Human Rights Watch/Asia|date=March 1996}}</ref>

In the 1980s, adoptions accounted for half of the so-called "missing girls".<ref name=johansson1991>{{cite journal | title=The missing girls of China: a new demographic account | last=Johansson | first=Sten | last2=Nygren | first2=Olga | year=1991 | volume=17 | issue=1 | journal = Population and Development Review | pages=35–51 | doi=10.2307/1972351 | publisher=Population Council | jstor=1972351}}</ref> Through the 1980s, as the one-child policy came into force, parents who desired a son but had a daughter often failed to report or delayed reporting female births to the authorities. Some parents may have offered up their daughters for formal or informal adoption. A majority of children who went through formal adoption in China in the later 1980s were girls, and the proportion who were girls increased over time.<ref name=johansson1991 />

===Twins sought===
Since there are no penalties for [[multiple birth]]s, it is believed that an increasing number of couples are turning to fertility medicines to induce the conception of twins. According to a 2006 ''[[China Daily]]'' report, the number of twins born per year in China had doubled.{{clarify timeframe|date=June 2012}}<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-02/14/content_520025.htm | title=China: Drug bid to beat child ban | work=China Daily | accessdate=11 November 2008 | date=14 February 2006 | agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

===Improvement in the provision of health care===
It is reported that the focus of China on population control helps provide a better health service for women and a reduction in the risks of death and injury associated with pregnancy. At family planning offices, women receive free contraception and pre-natal classes that contributed to the policy's success in two respects. First, the average Chinese household expends fewer resources, both in terms of time and money, on children, which gives many Chinese more money with which to invest. Second, since young Chinese can no longer rely on children to care for them in their old age, there is an impetus to save money for the future.<ref>{{cite book|last=Naughton|first=Barry|title=The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth|year=2007|publisher=MIT Press|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=978-0262640640}}</ref>
[[File:One child policy.jpg|thumb|left|Government sign in Tangshan Township: "For a prosperous, powerful nation and a happy family, please practice family planning."|alt=A white sign with two lines of red Chinese characters and a smaller one beneath them on a background of white tile]]
Chinese authorities thus consider the policy a great success in helping to implement China's current economic growth. The reduction in the fertility rate and thus population growth has reduced the severity of problems that come with [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation]], like epidemics, slums, overwhelmed social services (such as health, education, law enforcement), and strain on the ecosystem from abuse of fertile land and production of high volumes of waste. {{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

==="Four-two-one" problem===
{{main|4-2-1 phenomenon}}
As the first generation of law-enforced only-children came of age for becoming parents themselves, one adult child was left with having to provide support for his or her two parents and four grandparents.<ref name="luzaihefang">{{cite news | script-title=zh:"四二一"家庭,路在何方?|trans_title='Four-two-one families', where is the road going? | date=5 April 2008 | accessdate=31 January 2011 | author=李雯 [Li Wen] | url=http://www.yndaily.com/html/20080405/news_99_16443.html | publisher=云南日报网 [Yunnan Daily Online] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718142403/http://www.yndaily.com/html/20080405/news_99_16443.html|archivedate=18 March 2011|language=zh}}</ref><ref name="renkouxuehui">{{cite web | script-title=zh:四二一"家庭真的是问题吗?|trans_title=Are 'four-two-one' families really a problem?| url=http://cpachn.org.cn/ShowNews.asp?ID=1021 | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20110707050058/http://cpachn.org.cn/ShowNews.asp?ID=1021 | archivedate=2011-07-07 | publisher=中国人口学会网 [China Population Association Online] | date=10 October 2010 | accessdate=31 January 2011|language=zh}}</ref> Called the "4-2-1 Problem", this leaves the older generations with increased chances of dependency on retirement funds or charity in order to receive support. If personal savings, pensions, or state welfare fail, most senior citizens would be left entirely dependent upon their very small family or neighbours for assistance. If, for any reason, the single child is unable to care for their older adult relatives, the oldest generations would face a lack of resources and necessities. In response to such an issue, all provinces have decided that couples are allowed to have two children if both parents were only children themselves: By 2007, all provinces in the nation except [[Henan]] had adopted this new policy;<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/10/28/f-rfa-germain.html|title=Rethinking China's one-child policy|publisher=CBC|date=October 28, 2009|accessdate=June 11, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2007-07-10/154513416121.shtml | accessdate=7 November 2008 | date=10 July 2007 | publisher=Sina | script-title=zh:计生委新闻发言人:11%以上人口可生两个孩子|trans_title=Spokesperson of the one-child policy committee: 11% or more of the population may have two children|language=zh}}</ref> Henan followed in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7657026.html |title=China's most populous province amends family-planning policy |work=People's Daily Online |date=2011-11-25}}</ref>

===Potential social problems===
Some parents may over-indulge their only child. The media referred to the indulged children in one-child families as "[[little emperor]]s". Since the 1990s, some people have worried that this will result in a higher tendency toward poor social communication and cooperation skills among the new generation, as they have no siblings at home. No social studies have investigated the ratio of these over-indulged children and to what extent they are indulged. With the first generation of children born under the policy (which initially became a requirement for most couples with first children born starting in 1979 and extending into the 1980s) reaching adulthood, such worries were reduced.<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Little Emperors|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|author=Deane, Daniela|date=July 26, 1992|page=16|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1992-07-26/magazine/tm-5347_1_one-child-policy}}</ref> However, the "little emperor syndrome" and additional expressions, describing the generation of Chinese singletons are very abundant in the Chinese media, Chinese academy and popular discussions. Being over-indulged, lacking self-discipline and having no adaptive capabilities are adjectives which are highly associated with Chinese singletons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thinkingchinese.com/index.php?page_id=117%20|title=Chinese Singletons&nbsp;– Basic 'Spoiled' Related Vocabulary|work=Thinking Chinese|date=November 11, 2010}}</ref>

Some 30 delegates called on the government in the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] in March 2007 to abolish the one-child rule, attributing their beliefs to "social problems and personality disorders in young people". One statement read, "It is not healthy for children to play only with their parents and be spoiled by them: it is not right to limit the number to two children per family, either."<ref name=CPPCC/> The proposal was prepared by Ye Tingfang, a professor at the [[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]], who suggested that the government at least restore the previous rule that allowed couples to have up to two children. According to a scholar, "The one-child limit is too extreme. It violates nature's law. And in the long run, this will lead to mother nature's revenge."<ref name=CPPCC>{{cite news| title = Consultative Conference: 'The government must end the one-child rule' | publisher = AsiaNews.it |date=2007-03-16 | url =http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8757&size=A}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Advisors say it's time to change one-child policy | publisher = Shanghai Daily |date=2007-03-15 | url = http://english.sina.com/china/1/2007/0315/106515.html}}</ref>

===Birth tourism===
Reports surfaced of Chinese women giving birth to their second child overseas, a practice known as [[birth tourism]]. Many went to Hong Kong, which is exempt from the one-child policy. Likewise, a Hong Kong passport differs from China mainland passport by providing additional advantages. Recently though, the Hong Kong government has drastically reduced the quota of births set for non-local women in public hospitals. As a result fees for delivering babies there have surged. As further admission cuts or a total ban on non-local births in Hong Kong are being considered, mainland agencies that arrange for expectant mothers to give birth overseas are predicting a surge in those going to North America.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.review33.com/m/forum_msg.php?db=3&tstart=0&s=&topic=90120131205753&number=5 |title=談天說地 |publisher=review33 |accessdate=2013-10-04}}{{Dead link|date=October 2013}}</ref> As the [[United States]] practises birthright citizenship, children born in the US will be US citizens. The closest option (from China) is [[Saipan]] in the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], a US dependency in the western Pacific Ocean that allows Chinese visitors without visa restrictions. The island is currently experiencing an upswing in Chinese births. This option is used by relatively affluent Chinese who often have secondary motives as well, wishing their children to be able to leave mainland China when they grow older or bring their parents to the US. [[Canada]] is less achievable as [[Ottawa]] denies many visa requests.<ref>{{cite web|title=Birth tourism on the upswing|url=http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=116516|author=Eugenio, Haidee V.|work=Saipan Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Many Chinese giving birth in CNMI trying to get around one child policy|url=http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=116544|author=Eugenio, Haidee V.|work=Saipan Tribune}}</ref>

==Criticism==

===Overstatement of the effect of the policy on birth reduction===
The Chinese government, quoting Zhai Zhenwu, director of Renmin University's School of Sociology and Population in Beijing, estimates that 400 million births were prevented by the one-child policy as of 2011. Zhai clarified that the 400 million estimate referred not just to the one-child policy, but includes births prevented by predecessor policies implemented one decade before, stating that "there are many different numbers out there but it doesn't change the basic fact that the policy prevented a really large number of births."<ref name=boston.com/> This claim is disputed by Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, and Cai Yong from the Carolina Population Center at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, who put the number of prevented births from 1979 to 2009 at 200 million.<ref name=boston.com/> Wang claims that "Thailand and China have had almost identical fertility trajectories since the mid 1980s," and "Thailand does not have a one-child policy."<ref name=boston.com/>

According to a report by the US Embassy, scholarship published by Chinese scholars and their presentations at the October 1997 Beijing conference of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population seemed to suggest that market-based incentives or increasing voluntariness is not morally better but that it is in the end more effective.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/report0698family.html|publisher=U.S. Embassy in Beijing|date=June 1988|title=PRC Family Planning: The Market Weakens Controls But Encourages Voluntary Limits}}</ref> In 1988, Zeng Yi and Professor T. Paul Schultz of [[Yale University]] discussed the effect of the transformation to the market on Chinese fertility, arguing that the introduction of the [[Household-responsibility system|contract responsibility system]] in agriculture during the early 1980s weakened family planning controls during that period.<ref>PRC journal ''Social Sciences in China'' [Zhongguo , January 1988]{{full citation needed|date=October 2013}}</ref> Zeng contended that the "big cooking pot" system of the [[People's commune|People's Commune]]s had insulated people from the costs of having many children. By the late 1980s, economic costs and incentives created by the contract system were already reducing the number of children farmers wanted.

As Hasketh, Lu, and Xing observe:
{{quote|[T]he policy itself is probably only partially responsible for the reduction in the total fertility rate. The most dramatic decrease in the rate actually occurred before the policy was imposed. Between 1970 and 1979, the largely voluntary "late, long, few" policy, which called for later childbearing, greater spacing between children, and fewer children, had already resulted in a halving of the [[total fertility rate]], from 5.9 to 2.9. After the one-child policy was introduced, there was a more gradual fall in the rate until 1995, and it has more or less stabilized at approximately 1.7 since then.<ref name="Hasketh"/>}}
These researchers note further that China could have expected a continued reduction in its fertility rate just from continued economic development, had it kept to the previous policy.

A long-term experiment in a county in Shanxi Province where the family planning law was suspended, that suggested that families would not have many more children even if the law were abolished.<ref name="NYT72212"/> A 2003 review of the policy-making process behind the adoption of the one-child policy shows that less intrusive options, including those that emphasized delay and spacing of births, were known but not fully considered by China's political leaders.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Greenhalgh, Susan|year=2003|title=Science, Modernity, and the Making of China's One-Child Policy|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=29|issue=June|pages=163–196|url=https://webspace.utexas.edu/cmm2436/china%27s_one-child_policy.pdf|doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2003.00163.x}}</ref>

===Unequal enforcement===
Government officials and especially wealthy individuals have often been able to violate the policy in spite of fines.<ref name="Chinanews"/> For example, between 2000 and 2005, as many as 1,968 officials in central China's [[Hunan]] province were found to be violating the policy, according to the provincial family planning commission; also exposed by the commission were 21 national and local lawmakers, 24 political advisors, 112 entrepreneurs and 6 senior intellectuals.<ref name="Chinanews">{{cite web | work=[[Xinhua]] | url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/08/content_912620.htm | title=Over 1,900 officials breach birth policy in C. China | date=8 July 2007 | accessdate=11 November 2008| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010221929/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/08/content_912620.htm|archivedate=10 October 2008|quote=But heavy fines and exposures seemed to hardly stop the celebrities and rich people, as there are still many people, who can afford the heavy penalties, insist on having multiple kids, the Hunan commission spokesman said...Three officials... who were all found to have kept extramarital mistresses, were all convicted for charges such as [[embezzlement]] and taking [[bribery|bribes]], but they were not punished for having more than one child.}}</ref> Some of the offending officials did not face penalties,<ref name="Chinanews"/> although the government did respond by raising fines and calling on local officials to "expose the celebrities and high-income people who violate the family planning policy and have more than one child."<ref name="Chinanews"/> Also, people who lived in the rural areas of China were allowed to have two children without punishment. But, the family must wait a couple of years before having another child.<ref>{{cite book|last=chan|first=peggy|title=Cultures of the world China|date=2005|publisher=Marshall Cavendish International|location=New York}}</ref>

===Accusations of human rights violations===
The one-child policy has been challenged in principle for violating a [[human right]] to determine the size of one's own family. According to a 1968 proclamation of the International Conference on Human Rights, "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children."<ref name="FREEDMAN">{{cite journal|last1= Freedman|first1= Lynn P.|first2= Stephen L.|last2= Isaacs|date=Jan–Feb 1993|title= Human Rights and Reproductive Choice|journal= Studies in Family Planning|volume= 24|issue= 1|pages= 18–30|accessdate= 2007-12-08|doi= 10.2307/2939211|jstor= 2939211|publisher= Population Council|pmid=8475521|url=http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana/fulltext/free3.pdf}}</ref><ref name=teheran_proc>{{cite web|title= Proclamation of Teheran|publisher= International Conference on Human Rights|year= 1968|url= http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/b_tehern.htm|accessdate= 2007-11-08|archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20071017025912/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/b_tehern.htm|archivedate= 2007-10-17}}</ref>

According to an unsourced article in the right-wing UK newspaper ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', a quota of 20,000 abortions and sterilizations was set for [[Huaiji County]] in [[Guangdong]] Province in one year due to reported disregard of the one-child policy. The article claimed that local officials were being pressured into purchasing portable ultrasound devices to identify abortion candidates in remote villages. The article also claimed that women as far along as 8.5 months pregnant were forced to abort, usually by an [[Instillation abortion|injection of saline solution]].<ref name=abort>{{cite news| title = Chinese region 'must conduct 20,000 abortions' | newspaper = [[The Telegraph (UK)|The Telegraph]] |date=2001-04-08 | author = McElroy, Damien | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/1336466/Chinese-region-must-conduct-20000-abortions.html| location=London}}</ref> A 1993 book by social scientist [[Steven W. Mosher]] made the claim that women in their ninth month of pregnancy, or already in labour, were having their children killed whilst in the birth canal or immediately after birth.<ref>{{cite book |last= Mosher |first= Steven W. |title= A Mother's Ordeal |publisher= [[Harcourt (publisher)|Harcourt]] |date=July 1993 |isbn= 0-15-162662-6 }}</ref>

According to a 2005 news report by [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] correspondent, John Taylor, China outlawed the use of physical force to make a woman submit to an abortion or sterilization in 2002, but, according to him, it is not entirely enforced.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2005/s1432717.htm |title=China&nbsp;– One Child Policy |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author=Taylor, John |date=2005-02-08 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> In 2012, [[Forced abortion of Feng Jianmei|Feng Jianmei]], a villager from central China's Shaanxi province, was reportedly forced into an abortion by local officials after her family refused to pay the fine for having a second child. Chinese authorities have since apologized and two officials were fired, while five others were sanctioned.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news|url=http://apnews.myway.com//article/20120706/D9VRDAT01.html |title=Father in forced abortion case wants charges filed |work=My Way News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

In the past China promoted [[eugenics]] as part of its population planning policies, but the government has backed away from such policies, as evidenced by China's ratification of the [[Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities]], which compels the nation to significantly reform its genetic testing laws.<ref>{{subscription required}} {{cite journal| title = Implications of China's Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities | url = http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/china/v008/8.1.petersen.html|journal=China: an International Journal}}</ref> Recent{{when|date=October 2013}} research has also emphasized the necessity of understanding a myriad of complex social relations that affect the meaning of [[informed consent]] in China.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sleeboom-Faulkner|first=Margaret Elizabeth|title=Genetic testing, governance, and the family in the People's Republic of China|journal=Social Science & Medicine|date=1 June 2011|volume=72|issue=11|pages=1802–1809|doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.03.052}}</ref> Furthermore, in 2003, China revised its marriage registration regulations and couples no longer have to submit to a pre-marital physical or genetic examination before being granted a marriage license.<ref>{{cite news| title = Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China | url = http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4b6fe19d6.pdf|newspaper=Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal}}</ref>

The [[United Nations Population Fund]]'s (UNFPA) support for family planning in China, which has been associated with the One-Child policy in the United States, led the [[United States Congress]] to pull out of the UNFPA during the Reagan administration,<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5457 |title=Don't Fund UNFPA Population Control |publisher=CATO Institute |date=1999-05-09 |author=Moore, Stephen}}</ref> and again under [[George W. Bush]]'s presidency, citing human rights abuses<ref>{{cite news | title = China is furious as Bush halts UN 'abortion' funds | newspaper = The Telegraph | author = McElroy, Damien |date=2002-02-03 | url =http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1383627/China-is-furious-as-Bush-halts-UN-abortion-funds.html | location=London}}</ref> and stating that the right to "found a family" was protected under the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights#Preamble|Preamble]] in the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]].<ref>{{cite news | title =United Nations Fund for Population Activities in China | publisher = U.S. Department of State | archivedate=19 February 2003 | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20030219115734/http://www.state.gov/p/io/rls/rm/2003/16790.htm | author = Siv, Sichan | url =http://www.state.gov/p/io/rls/rm/2003/16790.htm |date=2003-01-21 }}</ref> President [[Barack Obama|Obama]] resumed U.S. government financial support for the UNFPA shortly after taking office in 2009, intending to "work collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent [[HIV/AIDS]] and provide [[family planning]] assistance to women in 154 countries".<ref>{{cite web|title=UNFPA Welcomes Restoration of U.S. Funding|url=http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/pid/1562|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512114614/http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/pid/1562|archivedate=12 May 2013|work=UNFPA News|date=29 January 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Rizvi, Haider|title=Obama Sets New Course at the U.N.|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/03/politics-obama-sets-new-course-at-the-un/|work=IPS News|date=March 12, 2009|publisher=Inter Press Agency}}</ref>

===Alleged effect on infanticide rates===
Sex-selected abortion, abandonment, and [[infanticide]] are illegal in China. Nevertheless, the [[US State Department]],<ref>{{cite news|author=Associated Press|url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/27-12142004-416868.html|title=US State Department position}}{{dead link|date=October 2013}}</ref> the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/vo961218/text/61218-08.htm|title=Human Rights in China and Tibet|publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]}}</ref> and the [[human rights]] organization [[Amnesty International]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Amnesty International|url=http://www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/1683/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009055656/http://www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/1683/|archivedate=9 October 2006|title=Violence Against Women&nbsp;– an introduction to the campaign}}</ref> have all declared that China's family planning programs contribute to infanticide.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theinterim.com/issues/abortion/steve-mosher%E2%80%99s-china-report/|title=Steve Mosher's China report|newspaper=The Interim|year=1986|author=Mosher, Steve}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html|title=Case Study: Female Infanticide|work=Gendercide Watch|year=2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/infanticide-china-statistics|title=Infanticide Statistics: Infanticide in China|work=All Girls Allowed|year=2010}}</ref> "The 'one-child' policy has also led to what Amartya Sen first called 'Missing Women', or the 100 million girls 'missing' from the populations of China (and other developing countries) as a result of female infanticide, abandonment, and neglect".<ref>{{cite web|last=Steffensen|first=Jennifer|title=Georgetown Journal's Guide to the 'One-Child' Policy|url=http://journal.georgetown.edu/2012/04/25/georgetown-journals-guide-to-the-one-child-policy/|accessdate=2013-09-30}}</ref>

Anthropologist G. William Skinner at the [[University of California, Davis]] and Chinese researcher Yuan Jianhua have claimed that infanticide was fairly common in China before the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news|publisher=San Jose Mercury News (California)|date=2000-03-15|title=Experts Allege Infanticide In China 'Missing' Girls Killed, Abandoned, Pair Say|author=Lubman, Sarah}}</ref>

==Relaxation of policy==
In November 2013, following the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, China announced the decision to relax the one-child policy. Under the new policy, families can have two children if one parent is an only child.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24957303 China reforms: One-child policy to be relaxed]. Bbc.co.uk (2013-11-15). Retrieved on 2013-12-05.</ref>
This will mainly apply to urban couples, since there are very few rural only children due to long-standing exceptions to the policy for rural couples.<ref>http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-11/16/c_132893697_2.htm</ref>

The coastal province of [[Zhejiang]], one of China's most affluent, became the first area to implement this "relaxed policy" in January 2014.<ref name=reu>{{cite news|title=Eastern Chinese province first to ease one-child policy|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/17/us-china-onechild-idUSBREA0G0J220140117|newspaper=Reuters|date=17 January 2014}}</ref>

This policy has been implemented in 29 out of the 31 provinces, with the exceptions of [[Xinjiang]] and [[Tibet]]. Under this policy, approximately 11 million couples in China are allowed to have a second child. But only "nearly one million" couples applied to have a second child in 2014,<ref>http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01/12/content_19297390.htm</ref> less than half the expected number of 2 million per year.<ref>http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-07/10/content_17706811.htm</ref> As of May 2014, 241,000 out of 271,000 applications had been approved. Officials of China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission claimed that this outcome was expected, and that “second-child policy” would continue progressing with a good start.
<ref>Yamei Wang.(2014). 11 million couples qualify for a second child. ''Xinhua News.''Retrieved December 10, 2014 from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/video/2014-07/10/c_133475240.htm</ref>

Nevertheless, Deputy Director Wang Peian of the [[National Health and Family Planning Commission]] said that "China's population will not grow substantially in the short term".<ref>Burkitt, Laurie. (2013-11-17) [http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303755504579203853048322532 China to Move Slowly on One-Child Law Reform]. Online.wsj.com. Retrieved on 2013-12-05.</ref> A survey by the commission found that only about half of eligible couples wish to have two children, mostly because of the cost of living impact of a second child.<ref name=nyt-20140225>{{cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/world/asia/many-couples-in-china-will-pass-on-a-new-chance-for-a-second-child.html |title=Many in China Can Now Have a Second Child, but Say No |author=Dan Levin |newspaper=New York Times |date=25 February 2014 |accessdate=26 February 2014}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
*{{cite book |first=David |last=Ball |authorlink=David W. Ball |title=China Run |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2002 |ISBN=0743227433}} A novel about an American woman who travels to China to adopt an orphan of the one-child policy, only to find herself a fugitive when the Chinese government informs her that she has been given "the wrong baby."

*The prevention of a state imposed abortion during labor to conform with the one child policy was a key plot point in [[Tom Clancy]]'s novel ''[[The Bear and the Dragon]]''.

*The difficulties of implementing the one-child policy are dramatized in [[Mo Yan]]'s novel ''Frog'' (2009; English translation 2015).

==See also==
{{Portal|China}}
* [[Human population control]]
* [[Human rights in China]]
* [[Shidu (parents)]], denoting the loss of an only child
* [[Population Matters#Pledge two or fewer|Pledge two or fewer]] (UK family limitation campaign)
* [[Two-child policy]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|title=Better 10 Graves Than One Extra Birth: China's Systemic Use Of Coercion To Meet Population Quotas|year=2004|publisher=[[Laogai Research Foundation]]|location=Washington, DC|isbn=1-931550-92-1}}
*{{cite journal|author=Goh, Esther C.L.|title=China's One-Child Policy and Multiple Caregiving: raising little suns in Xiamen|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|url=http://www.lindenwood.edu/jigs/docs/volume3Issue2/bookReviews/123-125.pdf|journal=Journal of International and Global Studies}}
*{{cite book|last=Greenhalgh|first=Susan|title='Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng's China|year=2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25339-1|edition=Illustrated}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Population policy in China}}
* [http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/familypanning/ Family Planning in China]
* [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1215519 Illegal births and legal abortions – the case of China]
{{Health in China}}
{{Reproductive health}}
{{Human impact on the environment}}
{{Population}}
{{Population country lists}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:One-Child Policy}}
[[Category:One-child policy| ]]
[[Category:Human overpopulation]]
[[Category:Population ecology]]
[[Category:World population]]
[[Category:Demography]]

Revision as of 16:55, 23 January 2015

One Child policy is great says jeff