Scott Tong, a family friend, has been Marketplace’s ShangHai chief. As he finishes his 4-year oversea assignment, he gave a series on China’s one-child policy. I cannot match his depth of coverage, but can definitely add some colors.
Modern China is now filled with spoiled brats and lazy bums. Since the kid is the only hope for many parents and grand parents, he or she grew up well pampered and cannot really survive in the real world as an adult. They are called the Strawberry Generation — easily bruised and become useless by the slightest squeeze. They manipulate parents and grand-parents masterfully. They live lavishly and refuse any responsibility or accountability. They perish from lack of praising, let alone any criticism. Their parent shake their heads and worry about their survival and independence. At the same time, the older generation keeps on providing everything the young adult ask for, to a fault.
China also acquired a matter-of-course attitude on birth control and planning. A married couple need to apply permission to be pregnant. They get consultation on contraception tools and methodologies. Everyone knows when someone is having a kid and everyone talks about the costs of abortion, the effect of biological clock, the tips of birth planning, and other topics that western societies do only in the most intimate settings. When a couple have a second kid, everyone knew what they have gone through: resigned from governmental job, saved up for the penalty, moved to a bigger house, requested permission to enter school, etc.
Inhumane it was, this policy decreased China’s fertility rate faster than any other method would have. Human beings tend to disrespect whatever resources that are abundant. For a country with over a billion people, lives became cheap. Ironically, the cruel policy that killed millions of babies also made the new generation of children most precious.
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