What the one-child policy led to in China (7 photos)

One family - one child, this is literally a social experiment that China conducted on itself from 1980 to 2015. This is a whole generation, if not more, during which the traditional Chinese family structure was bursting at the seams.





And this is what it led to.

Let’s ignore the problem with the shortage of brides; this has already been discussed a hundred times. Chinese girls are spoiled by attention and demand. There is a much sadder problem that is talked about less.

What to do if your only child died?

The fact is that many parents in rural provinces are helped by their children. Previously, residents of these regions were not entitled to pensions at all. But after the introduction of the one-child policy, over time, more and more old people began to appear whose son died, and there was no one to take care of them.



There were murals like this all over the country, now they are being covered over, but in some places they have been forgotten

This motivated the authorities to reconsider their views on pensions and introduce at least some minimum. The government has realized that the country faces a hole of population aging into which it is easier to fall than to get out.

Look at Japan, there are a huge number of old people, and young people bear the entire burden of taxes for an aging society. And they no longer drag family and children. China was frightened by this prospect, but they came to their senses late.





Just like a Soviet poster, wife and husband workers, girl with a book

In 2015, the Chinese government raised the birth limit to TWO in an effort to reverse declining fertility rates and rejuvenate its aging population. In May 2021, it was announced that Chinese families could have up to THREE children.

But it was too late; the Chinese met the three-child policy without much enthusiasm. They are accustomed to living for themselves, accustomed to a different level of worries and consumption. The consciousness of the people has shifted to a career and earnings.

But until the early 1970s, most Chinese women had at least five children. By 1979, China's population had nearly reached 1 billion, up from 542 million in 1949. Incredible population growth is difficult to even imagine.



A Chinese woman had three children in the early 70s, they were already unaccustomed to this

Against this backdrop, grandparents in China were shocked that under the new law their children would only have ONE child. In some regions, forced abortions were even carried out when the law was just introduced and the people tried to quietly rebel.

Then everyone switched to fines and the loss of licenses for “extra” children. The parent of two children could be fired from his job if they find out about this.



Over thirty-odd years of art about one child, a lot has accumulated

But such cruelty gave China an incredible economic boost. The working-age population was not distracted by children - adult grandparents worked, mother went to work after one maternity leave. Plus - the Chinese have become much more mobile, with just one child. They began to move in the wake of construction sites and factories.

Pressure from parents

By 2010, 1 million Chinese families had lost their only child. And it’s even more scary for them to feel that not only their graves, but also the graves of their ancestors will no longer have anyone to take care of them.



And this is a modern sculpture, but there is only one hole for a child. Because the Chinese don't need more

Parents placed all their expectations on their only children, and especially exerted reproductive pressure. If there is only one son, there is always a risk that he will die. Therefore, he must get married and give him a grandson as soon as possible. Otherwise, who will continue the family line that some trace “from Confucius” and generally honor all ancestors.

Under pressure from “strict Asian parents,” only children are much less happy than past generations. They are more susceptible to apathy and depression, because they have a burden on their shoulders that they didn’t even ask for.



Where to get a pension, where to get money if your son died. Sometimes people are stuck

So the secret of the country’s economic rise is partly in the cruel demographic experiment China conducted on itself. But now he's paying the price.

In general, with its one-child policy, China borrowed heavily from the future. Now the population growth rate has decreased, couples are having only one child and are in no hurry to start families. But why? After all, the past generation gave their country a huge impetus for development, and now they live comfortably and childlessly in all this beauty.