The origins of China's One-Child Policy
Mei Fong, the author of One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment, discussed the origins of China's restrictive population policies.
Description
Starting in 1979, China implemented policies to reduce the population by limiting the number of children families could have. Mei Fong, the author of One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment, discussed the origins of China's restrictive population policies. She spoke about the political, economic and cultural factors that lead to the creation of these policies.
Bell Ringer Assignment
- Explain the actions that are included in the "One-Child Policy."
- What was the political, economic and cultural climate at the time that led to the policies being implemented?
- What does Mei Fong say was the main goal of these policies?
- Explain the population programs that were in place before the One-Child Policy. Explain the effectiveness of these.
Additional Resources
- Bell Ringer: The Demographic Impacts of China's One-Child Policy
Starting in 1979, China implemented policies to reduce the population by limiting the number of births families could have. In this clip, Mei Fong, the author of One Child, They Story of China's Most Radical Experiment, discussed the demographic and economic problems associated with China's One-Child Policy.
- Bell Ringer: China's Economic Growth
SafeSource Trading CEO and author Jeremy Haft talked about conflicting measures of economic growth in China and how they lead organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to regard China as the largest growing economy in the world.
- Bell Ringer: Thomas Malthus, The Population Bomb and the Green Revolution
Alan Weisman discussed Malthusian ideas of population, Ehrlich's book The Population Bomb and the impact of the Green Revolution.
Participants
Vocabulary
- Birth Rate
- China
- Communist Party
- Cultural Revolution
- Demography
- One-child Policy
- Overpopulation