Though China had been plagued by famines since ancient times, it was not until the Great Chinese Famine in the late 1950s and early 1960s that the state became proactive against future famines. In 1979, under the conviction that overpopulation was threatening China’s existence, Deng Xiaoping implemented the “one-child policy,” a coercive population control (CPC) measure intended to reduce the country’s fertility rate. However, because of the harsh nature of CPC, the disparate gender ratio that has developed, the imminent aging of China’s population, and a number of other critical enforcement concerns, CPC has proven to be far from an ideal method of population control.
There have been discourses on the relevance of this policy, and its impacts on fertility decline have become debatable in the light of the subsequent economic development and social and political stability, which accounts for the fertility reduction with a changing age profile. However, the decline in fertility in China, after the improvement of the economy and higher female labor force participation rates, do not offset the need for alternative policies to the current coercive population control measures, especially the necessity for providing higher levels of education for China’s female citizens. A new policy focused upon by the Chinese government should deal more with how to address the impacts of the socioeconomic and demographic phenomenon, instead of focusing on maintaining fertility reduction. Though there are a number of suggested alternatives to the one-child policy, educating the female population is the most satisfactory and comprehensive approach.
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