A wide gender imbalance, as well as the need for more children to care for parents, has likely influenced the government's tight control on the country's birthrate. . . . a harsh policy marked by forced abortions, sterilizations and fines for those who have more than one [child].
. . . China has some 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20.
UPDATE 8/31/11: Females born alive excel in nation lacking women
UPDATE 8/8/11: China vows crackdown on sex-selective abortions
UPDATE 10/22/10: One-Child Policy = Forced Abortion at Eight Months
UPDATE 9/28/10: China announces holding firm on one-child policy
-- From "China Could Overthrow One-Child Rule" by Allie Townsend, Time Magazine 9/9/10
The pilot projects, which are set to begin in 2011, allow for a second child per family if at least one spouse is an only child. USA Today reports that Beijing, Shanghai and four other provinces will follow suit in 2012, with nationwide adoption of the new policy expected by 2013 or 2014. In 1979, China's one-child policy was introduced after decades of huge population boom followed by mass death due to resulting food shortages. The policy, which has prevented 400 million births, restricted the country's ethnic Han majority to have only one child per family (exempting most ethnic minorities) and has remained nearly the same since, though a few exceptions have been made. (Some rural farm families have been allowed to have a second child if the first is a girl.)
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From "China may relax its one-child rule" by Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY 9/8/10
"In the past, we only focused on slowing population growth," says Peng Xizhe, a professor at Shanghai's Fudan University. "It's much more complicated than we earlier thought."
. . . a traditional preference for boys has led to the abortion of many girls. In 2009, the ratio of newborn boys to newborn girls was 119 to 100, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.
For three decades, China's one-child policy has set family sizes in the world's most populous nation — and symbolized the tight social controls set by its ruling Communist Party.
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