China’s Population Problems; The One-child policy and Western Ignorance

Allahpundit has an article up at Hot Air about some statements made by Ted Turner. As originally reported by therightscoop, while being interviewed on the Diane Rehm Show, Turner discussed population control and adopting a policy similar to that of China, citing them as a “good example”. While disturbing, let’s remember that this man has said far more revolting things lately, like his statements on “global warming” leading to cannibalism. Suffice to say, he has become further detached from reality…

Now I won’t sit here and debate the One-child policy, I just won’t. The actions taken to curb the population boom Chairman Mao Zedong encouraged (if China was to rebuild, they would need an army of workers), are understandable, but have lead to a number of problems. The one that upsets me the most is the refusal to teach sexual education in public schools. Even if they don’t know about sex, it doesn’t mean people won’t have it, instead it will lead to a bunch of ignorant individuals running around having unprotected intercourse, getting pregnant, and then getting abortions. This problem has gotten so bad, that coupons are handed out for the procedure, this on top of student discounts. Even with widespread distribution of condoms, the quality isn’t there, and even if it was, these people don’t know how to use them. To be honest, sometimes I felt like going into class with a condom and a banana and teaching the proper procedure to my students, especially after hearing all these wrong answers to the simplest sexual questions.

With that out of the way, I would like to address an issue that has definitely gotten worse in the last little while; the idea that population was becoming overly unbalanced in the People’s Republic of China. I think Allahpundit and others who believe such nonsense studies should be given a reality check. Ted Turner wasn’t simply wrong about applying such policy outside of China, but about how effective this policy has actually been. I will tell you this, I taught upwards of 700 students at Nantong Vocational College, I can say that the majority of them were girls. Many of these students also came from families with more than one child. One female student who I still talk with had, not only an older brother, but an older sister. The truth is that outside of the major cities, this policy isn’t applied. It could be because so many births go unreported, that provincial governments don’t care to record them, or that the demand for unskilled labour is still very high in less developed regions, but either way, the reality is that the One-child policy has simply failed.

This study everyone keeps quoting should be torn up and forgotten. A survey of ONLY four million, out of a country of more than 1.3 billion means nothing, and seeing that this study only takes in official records, should also raise “red flags”. Do I think there is a problem? Yes, I do think that the belief that a male child is “better” than a female child has lead to serious social issues in the country, but I will have to disagree that it has gotten seriously out of control. Where do you think many of these abandoned girls go? They are picked up by adoption agencies, and sold to work in factories or in the sex trade when they are old enough, with the lucky ones taken in by loving families, like this new wave of foreigners who can’t have their own children. These people never get registered into any database, further skewing the survey results. Having actually spent time in China and returned back to the “safety” of the West, I can tell you that it is downright disturbing that so many continue to believe these “myths”. I have people telling me what I “should” believe about these people, what is the “truth” about the country, not what I saw and experienced when I was there. Anyone who has spent time outside the major cities, has actually seen what happens in “real” China, knows that even such a “draconian” government doesn’t have complete and total control of what happens in a country with such a large population…

People who believe this garbage should be grouped in with the likes of Ted Turner, individuals who still refuse to educate themselves on a country and a people they prefer to villainize then understand… Pathetic…

UPDATE: I ran into this article on China’s One-child policy and I thought anyone reading this post should take a look. As I explained, outside major cities, families do have more than one child. I am surprised many people haven’t bothered taking this into account when taking swings at the Chinese government for this radical policy. While far more “thought out” then other articles I have read, it does seem to ignore the “underground” element when considering the fate of many unwanted baby girls. As I explained, many families refuse to report a second child, many government agencies refuse to record them, etc even in larger cities. Chinese families are also allowed to “apply” for a permit for additional children. Something not discussed in this article or that of Hot Air’s Allahpundit…

To be honest, I find it rather upsetting that so many would villainize a people they refuse to even understand. When I was in China, I spent months trying to convince my students that much of what they learned about “laowai” were false, if not hateful. Rumour circulated around campus about foreign teachers being rapists and thugs, with stories about me beating up other students spreading like wildfire. It took a while to earn their trust, and when I did, I got to learn a fair bit about these people. You would be amazed at how different they really were from the “villains” many people here in the West portray them as. There was this sense when I first arrived that at least we in the West were more tolerant, more understanding and more mannered than the Chinese, but now that I have returned, I find this to be the greatest myth of them all. We are very different, but that in no way makes us “better”. Tolerance is only given when one’s views mirror that of mainstream thought, understanding is only allowed to those portrayed as victims (villains who are given unwarranted sympathy), and it seems as of late that manners, or simply our own morality, has been forgotten.

As a wise man once said, don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes… It seems many of those who will criticize the Chinese refuse to even consider this… Pathetic…

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