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Published online 23 July 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/454374a
Where have all the flowers gone?
At least 117 boys were being born for every 100 girls at the beginning of this century in China. Philip Ball asks whether Chinese birth rates can be controlled without exacerbating the gender imbalance.
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This is a highly readable and well documented article. It sends the right warning to the Chinese authority of its deviant one-child policy. The lop-sided male-female ratio is getting increasingly unacceptable, leading to unhealthy social consequences. Blame Confucius if you wish. For more than two millennia, giving birth to a boy has been a ‘must’ for a couple. In fact, if the first born is a male, it will be celebrated. While the urban population would acquiesce with having daughters, the rural folks are still locked to the first son mentality. China continues to be troubled by its population dilemma. Having more than two children per couple will send its population soaring in no time. On the other hand, having only one will see its fast growing ageing group soon to be supported by a smaller group of young working people. This is the million dollar problem for the demographers. (Tan Boon Tee)
Don't blame Confucius. Everything is double-edged. Try to imagine what you would see if there was not a one child policy introduced about 30 years ago. Probably, there's not other such effective policies to control the rapid population increasing. As a result, there will be much more people to be feeded, not least to be well educated. Think the consumption of natural resources, air quality, global warming, and so on, it just equally, if not much more, terrible! I think the consequent social problems will still remain. So, don't blame your ancestors. If you do, that's just show that you are not very smart and cannot think of ways to overcome the challenges. In fact, many people become to be aware of it's difficult to raise a child, even in rural areas. To raise a child, that means not just to feed them, but a good helth, a well education and much money. So, even their thougts are deeply root in Confucius, if they have a good living enviroment, such as good medical care, safe and harmonious society, they probably choose to have fewer children, if not one.
It's surely a big challege to keep the millions of young single males in peace. One possible solution is to help immigration to other countries. Another solution is to promote science and technology. Let's hope that out of the millions of boys there will be a couple of Isaac Newtons.
Actually, the one child policy was instituted by Mao in the 1950's. It was not widely publicized outside Chinese communist circles, because it was at odds with Marx, who had argued against Malthus' call for population control. As a graduate student at U.C. Berkeley in the 1970's we pointed this out to the Maoists on campus to their discomfort.
China's population growth needs to be not just slowed, but reversed. I don't have the answers; but nature gets the last crack at it. Lest anyone think I'm prejudiced, I think virtually all countries are overpopulated. Chinese women need equality in all of life; and it would help them if they were all well-trained in any martial art.