China's lost generation

[4GS]

China has had a 'one child per family' policy for many years now. After the tragic earthquake this week where it unfortunately looks like hundreds of families are now childless due to schools collapsing etc you think the Chinese government will reconsider this policy?

Do you also think that they now regret bringing in this policy?
TIA

[Myriad2112]

no thanks, there's still more than enough yellow people to go around

[Marg0]

It probably won't be so important any more as a policy as their economy continues to grow at a crazy rate and there's plenty to go round. An earthquake changes little (7000 people/billions).
If the economy keeps growing, they'll be phoning Poland before long.

[squarebear]

I hope they don't reconsider. There's far too many people for the Earh to support.

[squarebear]

Earth*

[keyplus90]

I do not agree with limitation about children any way. This might be one example (however small) to show that yes if someone only had one child and have lost him/her now and may not be able to have any more due to age or any other reason then they have no one. It is bad.

[tigerlily11]

Th Chinese people will regret it but the goverment won't.
As far as their Goverment are concered they never make bad decisions.

[123everton]

The 1 child policy is not applied to ethnic minorities in China. There are also exemptions to do with disability.
China is a vast country to have an unrestained family policy would threaten it's economic development because instead of being largely self sufficient in producing food it would have to import it. The policy is exercised in the issuance of a fine (which is negotiable) the net result is either abortion, adoption and sometimes abandonment, of course none of these occur in Britain do they?
It's hard to grasp the scale of China, but a loose example would be if you graduate high school at 18 you will be competing for a place in university with roughly 750,000 others in each province.
There are a myriad of ways to call someone a w@nker, I find it grossly distasteful to dismiss the deaths of thousands of people many of them children (as the questioner points out very clearly) to the extent of there's plenty more were they came from.
BBC4 did a truly excellent 5 part documentary called "Chinese School" watch it and shrug off this tragedy especially the 1 about sports day....

[tigerlily11]

I can't see that the question and answer on this thread are dismissing it in any way. No one is saying it isn't a tragic event, It's just a comment on part of China that the rest of the world have never understood considering that many children (usually girls) are abandoned very day because of this policy.

[4GS]

I was certainly not being dismissive or making light of the tragedy. Notwithstanding the loss of so many children on fell swoop, the policy has had major ramifications since this policy was adopted, some being that, traditionally boys are more valuable than girls in China, so children will grow up not having sistersor aunts and in the future, maybe now, there will be a shortage of girls to marry. Chinese men will have to move abroad in order to marry, and again traditionally daughters in law looked after elderly relatives

[tigerlily11]

Its already happening in India and China. Girls and young women are being abducted in some areas because of the lack of females in other parts, for marrying.

[LoftyLottie]

Yes Tigerlilly - it shows that in the end we can't play around with nature.

[123everton]

4gs your question is a pertinent 1, the first answer is'nt.
The others are all valid points (no quarrel with them or you) India has no 1 child policy that I'm aware of and all though boys are preferred women do have equal status in China (more than you realise) so the disposal of girls is not as widespread as the press will have you believe.
The most common cause for abandonment is poverty, it may well be that they have 1 child and the next 1 they have is a girl. In China girls are valued members of society and attitudes are changing (if not changed already) I'm not defending the system but it works for them.
When you go to provincial towns with a population almost the size of Wales it makes you see the scale of the "problem".
This is not the first disaster to hit China in recent times (about 10 years ago they had massive flooding) but I've heard no international appeals for aid (they refused help in the floods) when you consider the number of posts about foreign aid and "charity begins at home" it makes me ask, are they pursuing the wrong policies? As they appear to be coping admirably with a disaster on an almost equal scale to Burma in an equally remote area.

[abstibus]

The people affected by the earthquake have lost children, parents, grandparents, their homes, their livelihoods and their hopes for the future.
The fact that the country has an official one child policy is immaterial. These people are suffering losses that we cannot begin to understand.
But we could try.

[Myriad2112]

Apparently they are flying in food aid for victims of the earthquake in South-Western China...

Battersea dogs home is completely out of stock, in response to the emergency.