BMJ  2006;333:361-362 (19 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.38938.412593.80

Editorial

China's one child policy

The policy that changed the world

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Chinese one child policy is unique in the history of the world. It was a source of great pain for one generation, but a generation later it began to yield important economic benefits. For China, and the world as a whole, the one child policy was one of the most important social policies ever implemented.

Rapid population growth is an unforgiving task master. Even with the one child policy—as a result of the high birth rate a generation before—China still has one million more births than deaths every five weeks. The Chinese State Council launched the policy in 1979, "so the rate of population growth may be brought under control as soon as possible." However, the root cause of the policy lay back in the 1960s with Mao Zedong's belief that "the more people, the stronger we are"—an ideology that prevented China from developing the highly successful voluntary . . . [Full text of this article]

School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA
(potts@berkeley.edu)

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Where next for China?: Rose tinted spectacles do not help

Vaughan P Smith
BMJ 2006 333: 500. [Extract] [Full Text]

Changing China

Rajendra Kale
BMJ 2006 333: 0. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Family size, fertility preferences, and sex ratio in China in the era of the one child family policy: results from national family planning and reproductive health survey

Qu Jian Ding and Therese Hesketh
BMJ 2006 333: 371-373. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Smith, V. P (2006). Where next for China? Rose tinted spectacles do not help.. BMJ 333: 500-500 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Rose-tinted spectacles

Vaughan P Smith
bmj.com, 22 Aug 2006 [Full text]

China’s one-child policy: pseudo economic rationalizations

Meng-Kin Lim
bmj.com, 24 Aug 2006 [Full text]

Population Control

Anthony D Clift
bmj.com, 25 Aug 2006 [Full text]

Not a policy to emulate

Cameron B McLarty
bmj.com, 26 Aug 2006 [Full text]

Policy or a disaster?

Aruna Reddy Gurrala, et al.
bmj.com, 29 Aug 2006 [Full text]

Rapid population redoubling

James G. Danaher
bmj.com, 1 Sep 2006 [Full text]

World population growth - the biggest challenge to public health and the environment

Rachel Joyce
bmj.com, 3 Sep 2006 [Full text]

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves

Gregory Gardner
bmj.com, 3 Oct 2006 [Full text]

One word of truth...

Gregory Gardner
bmj.com, 3 Oct 2006 [Full text]