by Nicole Du Plessis

Created on: April 30, 2008

China's One-Child Policy

In 1979, China decided to implement a policy to try and change their demographic structure. This policy was called the One-Child Policy.

Their main reason for implementing this policy then was the end of the reign of Mao. As he had strongly opposed reducing the population, meaning that despite the mass-genocide and famine around the 1950s to 60s the population had continued to rise, leaders after his death in 1976 had taken drastic action.

At this time, the population was already at around one billion, so it is not a surprise that they would want to reduce it. Also, because of the shoot up in birth rates following the famine, there were now a lot of people reaching the age to start a family.

The policy was very complicated to implement, and relied on the government being able to totally control every aspect of life in the country. This was mainly done through the work place.

All couples had to get permission to get married. For this, they received family planning advice and had to pass a test on contraception. They also had to be over 24 years of age. This was to prevent them from having children early in life, as well as meaning that they may not have time to have a second child.

They were told when they could try for a child. Each factory only had a certain quota for each year. If a couple missed out on the quota, they were put in the next year's quota, so they had to wait before they could have their child.

When they were ready to have a child, they received a birth permission card. This card was required to register the child when it was born. The card could not be replaced. If the child wasn't registered, neither it nor the family would get any benefits. Children were registered at the police station, giving the government further control.

As further persuasion, families were allowed to sign a contract so that in return for their promise not to have another child, they received extra benefits. These included the equivalent to 20 a year from the government, free schooling and priority in universities and jobs for the child.

If all mothers signed the contract, then the factory the worked at would get a certificate and all workers would get a bonus.

Images were published to promote the policy, showing happy families with only one child.

However, these were only factors to discourage families from having a second child in the first place. There was also a much more sinister side to the policy.

Each factory had so-called "telltales", employed by

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