User:Eagles2023/One-child policy

Propoganda
The National Family Planning committee developed the slogan "Wan Xi Shao," which was first enacted in 1973 and was in effect until 1979. This national idea encouraged later marriages and having less children. However, this policy was not effective at enforcing the developing ideal of having fewer children since it was such a new concept that had never been seen in other regions of the world. The various problems that arose during the initial introduction of the policy were slowly modified and progressively became more targeted to corner women into limited control over their own bodies.

Many of the tactics used by the government were able to be reflected in the day to day life of the average Chinese citizen. Since the Chinese government could not outright force its inhabitants to follow strict policy orders, the government developed strategies that were able to encourage and promote individuals to take on this responsibility themselves. A common technique was placing an emphasis on family bonds and how having one child per family would increase the emotional ties between parent-offspring relationships as well as extended family giving all their attention to fewer children. While the message of reducing population was urgent and required immediate attention, it was more important for the government to stop conceptions and new pregnancies. Instead, the Family Planning Commission was able to spread propaganda by placing pictures and images on everyday items. Aside from signs and posters on billboards, advertisements were placed on postage stamps, milk cartons, food products and many other household items to promote the idea of the benefits that comes with having one child.

Propaganda took many forms throughout the one child policy era and was able to target a wide range of age demographics. For children born into this time period, they spent most of their lives getting exposed to the new expectations placed on them by society. Educational programs were also encouraged to promote one child policy expectations. For many young teenagers, they had to read "Renkou Jiayu" (1981) which emphasized the importance of family planning and birth control measures that would ensure the stability of the nation. Younger generations of citizens became the main target audience for much of the propaganda as the one-child policy continued since they made up a large portion of the population that would be contributing to the continued growth if no policy was put in play.

By being able to promote the one child policy on a daily basis, the government was able to convince people that it was their duty to fulfill this nationalistic pride. Once the idea and initial steps of this policy were introduced into society, it was regulated by local policy enforcers until finally being an internal obligation members of the community accepted for the greater good of maintaining a nation. In many cases, health centers encouraged the idea of reducing risks of pregnancy by distributing various forms of contraceptives at no costs which made the option to have protected sex more common than unprotected sex.

Quality of life for women
Mothers that complied with the one child policy were able to have longer maternity leave periods as long as they were older than 24 years of age. The government encouraged couples to start family planning at an older age. Since many of these women were employed and held the modern woman standard, the incentive to later births was to provide paid leave as long as they maintained the one child expectation. However, if they happened to have a second pregnancy they were stripped of their privileges and were not given the same resources compared to their first birth.

During this time period, another shift in attitude towards women that changed was giving them harsh punishments if they happened to act against the newly established policy. In areas such as Shanghai, women faced similar punishments as men while before the revolution they tended to have more lenient penalties. Regardless of their actions, there was always something to blame women for in the eyes of the general public.

Sex-selective abortion
In China, male children have always been favored over female children. With the one child policy in place, many parents often selected abortions to meet the one child standard as well as the satisfaction of having a male son. It was common for male offspring to be preferred in rural areas in order to ensure retirement plans for parents since their daughters often married into other families. A common saying in rural areas was Yang’er Fang Lao, which translates to “rear a son for your old age. ” After the initial forced sterilization and abortion campaign in 1983, citizens of urban areas in china disagreed with the standards being placed on them by the government and having complete disregard for basic human rights. This led to the Chinese government straying away from the forced sterilization processes in attempts to encourage civilian compliance.

Disparity in sex ratio at birth
As the gender gap became more prominent due to the preference of male children over female offspring, policy enforcers shifted their attention to promoting the benefits that came with having daughters. In rural, isolated regions of China, the government provided families with a daughter more access to education and other resources such as job opportunities to parents in order to encourage the idea that having a daughter also has a positive impact on the family. However, this incentive came after the thousands of female infant deaths that occurred which was not enough to balance out the gender gap.