Questions about China's one child policy

[ronki23]

I heard that China's one child policy only appealed to the Hans so the Uiyghurs, Tibetans, Hui and Mongolians were exempt. I also heard that you may have another child if:

You and your spouse were both only childs (later only one had to be an only child),
You lived in an urban area (apparently in rural areas there were families with 3,4 or more children),
Your first child was a girl (only applies to rural)

So if there are so many loopholes then why has the population growth declined?

Also, is it 30,000 RMB or 300,000 RMB if you illegally have a second child?

 

[Kirran]

Exempt is a simplification - they were allowed to have one more child. Even 2 children per person is below replacement rate. So when you have almost half the population limited by law to one child per couple, and then most of the rest limited to two, and some people being allowed more (and it's hardly like everyone has as many children as they can - many people didn't have kids or only wanted one), then you end up with a declining population. And the policy was much stricter in early years. By now it's re-shaped family expectations in the PRC so people often don't intend to have more than one or two kids anyway.

 

[ronki23]

Exempt is a simplification - they were allowed to have one more child. Even 2 children per person is below replacement rate. So when you have almost half the population limited by law to one child per couple, and then most of the rest limited to two, and some people being allowed more (and it's hardly like everyone has as many children as they can - many people didn't have kids or only wanted one), then you end up with a declining population. And the policy was much stricter in early years. By now it's re-shaped family expectations in the PRC so people often don't intend to have more than one or two kids anyway.

Who said they were allowed more than one? Only if parent are only child themselves

And Han make up more than half the population; I think it only applies to Hans in urban areas

 

[Kirran]

Who said they were allowed more than one? Only if parent are only child themselves

And Han make up more than half the population; I think it only applies to Hans in urban areas

Well, there is no one child policy any more of course. Yes, the caveat that two only children could have two children themselves was brought in pretty late on. Sure, yeah. It applied in full to around 45-50% of the population by the time it was ended, although it had been a long decline from a much higher proportion. Even then, the remainder weren't exactly free to have as many children as they wanted.

 

[ronki23]

Well, there is no one child policy any more of course. Yes, the caveat that two only children could have two children themselves was brought in pretty late on. Sure, yeah. It applied in full to around 45-50% of the population by the time it was ended, although it had been a long decline from a much higher proportion. Even then, the remainder weren't exactly free to have as many children as they wanted.

Please elaborate?

If it only applied to Urban Hans then why did the population growth decline as there were still loopholes

Of the Mainlanders I knew at University, 5 had siblings and 5 didn't so roughly 50/50 (I knew more than 10 mainlanders but only knew 10 of them did or didn't have siblings)

 

[Kirran]

Please elaborate?

If it only applied to Urban Hans then why did the population growth decline as there were still loopholes

Of the Mainlanders I knew at University, 5 had siblings and 5 didn't so roughly 50/50 (I knew more than 10 mainlanders but only knew 10 of them did or didn't have siblings)

If you weren't limited to one child, you were generally limited to two.

And I've already gone into what you raised there.

 

[ronki23]

If you weren't limited to one child, you were generally limited to two.

And I've already gone into what you raised there.

In rural areas you see families with 3,4 or more children and it only applied to Hans in urban areas.

Let's use math:

92% of China's population is Han- 1.2 billion
55% of China is urban population. So 55% of 1.2 billion is 660 million urban Hans
Of that 660 million half can have only 1 child so 330 million are legally only allowed one child.

But that still leaves over 1 billion people (non-Han, rural Hans, Hans that are allowed more than one child) that can have multiple children

So why is the population growth decreasing?

 

[Kirran]

In rural areas you see families with 3,4 or more children and it only applied to Hans in urban areas.

Let's use math:

92% of China's population is Han- 1.2 billion
55% of China is urban population. So 55% of 1.2 billion is 660 million urban Hans
Of that 660 million half can have only 1 child so 330 million are legally only allowed one child.

But that still leaves over 1 billion people (non-Han, rural Hans, Hans that are allowed more than one child) that can have multiple children

So why is the population growth decreasing?

I feel you haven't been reading what I've been saying. I will repeat one last time:

The one child policy was much stricter in policy and enforcement in earlier years.

Most couples who could have more than one child couldn't have more than two still. In the later years of the one-child policy, most of the Han population were permitted a second child, but no more (either because they lived in rural areas or because at least one parent was an only child in most provinces) while urban ethnic minorities were allowed two children and rural ethnic minorities three or four. Average couple is still having way under 2.1 children (which is replacement rate).

Not everybody has the max amount of kids allowed by law, by any means.

The one-child policy had a large influence on bringing about a demographic transition and changing the mentality of family dynamics in China. Now, even with the one-child policy a two-child policy, many couples opt for no- or one-child families.