The chinese government is stupid

[Vindekarr]

Thanks.

 

I had absolutely no idea of the previous policy of population growth- or how monumentaly vast the total population was, and it's certainly changed my image of China a great deal.

 

It's a lot more justified to implement population control when you've got a population expeanding that fast. I still disagree with prioritising boys over girls, but that's just me being feminist. I did some online research and some regional cities in China have a bigger population than my entire home nation.

 

In Australia, the population is heavily spread out, with a series of large states dividing the country. Each state has a capital city of about 1-3 million people, with a further million or so spread across the country. The lush forest valleys in south east pocket supports a much larger population but it's hard for even the most open minded australian to imagine a city with more than ten million people, let alone twenty or a hundred.

 

It really hit home to me that our biggest cities, Sydney, a bay based comerce hub, and the more southern Melbourne, a large and old residential "metropolis" must seem like country villiages compared to China or India.

[Chaosblade02]

I don't predict population control efforts in the US for a very long time, we have plenty of room to expand, and US citizens would not welcome actions from the government telling them how many kids they can have. But in recent times the government don't seem to be giving much of a damn about the constitution or bill of rights, and I don't think people are getting angry enough about it, so who knows what the future brings.

 

And in China's case, this isn't such a bad thing, for reasons people already posted. The Chinese obviously have a preference toward males, at least from a productivity, and military perspective. Their population is also one of the reasons that are able to have basically an industrial monopoly. Crazy trade deals being made by traitorous/crooked politicians in our own countries isn't helping things either.

[Maharg67]

I think people are either misinformed or otherwise narrow minded when it comes to China's one-child policy. The policy affects the benefits families receive for children. You can have more than one child but the government will not give child benefits to families that have more than the one child quota.

 

There are obviously still ethical issues involved with this decision but people seem to think that the Chinese government have outright banned families from having more than one child, which isn't the case at all.

 

My sister has lived in Shanghai for 5 years now and I've visted her, as well as Beijing in the past. China gets a very bad rap from western media. They have some things wrong but they have a LOT of stuff right in that country. I really dislike folks who jump on the "omg China sux" bandwagon without any informed reason.

 

I agree in general with you here. I studied Chinese Communist history and uni and though I have less knowledge of more modern times, I can see that the complexity of Chinese Communist Politics and Chinese traditions led to what has happened there in the way of attempted population control. China has tried to deal with a very difficult problem that is based in the very history and traditions of China itself. I do not agree with everything that China has done, far from it, but could any other country do better with such a huge population. What about India? On top of that the attempt at birth control has run into such obstacles as demographic changes, corruption and much else.

 

Vindekarr, I am Australian but I lived in more isolated areas where on can travel for a hundred kilometres or more with out meeting anybody else, so I support what you are saying. Of course Australia, because of its climate and geography, can not really support a massive population as other areas of the world can do more easily. I am concerned that Australia's population is growing as quickly as it is while we are becoming hot, drier and less capable of growing food in what used to be our 'food bowls' such as the grain belt in Western Australia.

 

It is not just China but the whole world that needs to find an effective remedy for out of control population growth.

[Vindekarr]

Dont worry, with a government as ****ed as this one, we'll be fine.

 

After all, even New Zeaand could successfully invade us right now, all our 3 soldiers are off fighting America's war with Austrian guns from 60 years ago, it's not like we could defend ourselves. And hopefully they'd nukel queensland and end that population problem too

 

And besides,

 

Sometimes I feel like we're worse off then China. Atleast China has a regime that rigidly enforces policy, asserts dominance over it's territorial waters and lands, and actualy has an operating central government. And it can too because it's military is excellent.

 

We've got about 11 fighter jets, which not even America wanted, 4 pilots for those, 3 or so soldiers who only rarely show up for work, a tank somewhere we misplaced, and a boat. That's our armed forces. And our only politician with a scrap of humanity is also our head of defence so he'd die first.

 

Ehh, after 88 successive years of politicians doing nothing, we're screwed a lot worse than China.

[brokenergy]

There is a difference between stupid and policy failure and the one child policy is not one of them. Just because they didn't expect an gender imbalance doesn't make them any less "stupid" than our current crop over here. In fact China is still growing at a significant rate while the rest of the world is lagging behind. Only a good government will try to do anything in to stop their economy from failing and that's what China did, so you can't really say that they are stupid as it really isn't the proper word to use.

[Vagrant0]

I don't predict population control efforts in the US for a very long time, we have plenty of room to expand, and US citizens would not welcome actions from the government telling them how many kids they can have. But in recent times the government don't seem to be giving much of a damn about the constitution or bill of rights, and I don't think people are getting angry enough about it, so who knows what the future brings.

Well, in the US, it wouldn't have to be something as extreme as government mandated abortions or selective sterilizations, but could simply be a small law which reduces the amount of aid they get for having more than 2 or 3 children, securing the country's borders, and working toward better educating the lower class. The rest of the world, particularly those developing countries will likely need some controls before the US does, which will probably lessen any stigma associated with it.

[evilneko]

Interesting bit of trivia re: population density--

 

The entire world's population could fit into an area the size of Texas if the entire area had roughly the same population density as New York City.

[Dark0ne]

The whole concept of monetary aid for having children is lost on me.

 

Every person has a right to bear children, but every person also has a responsibility to their children to atleast have the means to support them. I don't understand why it's the government's job to pay people to have more children. Sure, provide financial aid for a first child, but paying parents for each and every child they bear completely removes the responisble nature of bearing children.

 

It's what's led to some families in the UK earning up and beyond £50,000 (around $80,000 USD) a year JUST on child benefits. Mother's with 16 children, from 4 or 5 different blokes, who don't work, in the top 4% earning bracket in the country. It's crazy. It's stupid. And it's downright insulting.

 

Ethical drama incoming: these people should be given mandatory "snips". I honestly believe that.

[Vagrant0]

Interesting bit of trivia re: population density--

 

The entire world's population could fit into an area the size of Texas if the entire area had roughly the same population density as New York City.

Yes... but the problem is that you wouldn't be able to support all the food, power, and oxygen needs of those people with such an expansive population density, even if the rest of the world were turned into automated farming/harvesting/manufacturing plants. And having 6 billion people who are living in Texas heat with a New York mentality would surely not end well.

[Ghogiel]

you can say what you like about china being this or that, but they do have a bit of a f'ed up sex ratio among the younger generation. so that indicates something is wrong there.

 

anyway I really don't see how that is much of a problem though. so what, there are more Chinese guys than there are girls. And?