One Child Policy

Huiquan Chen

My Birth

China has the largest population in the world, and because of this large population, the government in China implemented a policy called family planning. In addition, family planning is also known as the One Child Policy. As the name said, people in China could not have more than one child in a family during the years of this policy. This policy started in the 1960s and lasted until 2017. I have an older sister, and this means my birth violated the One Child Policy. In fact, the government wanted to limit the population, so they focused on Chinese families who had more than one child. Due to my birth, the family planning policy deeply affected my family and brought many troubles to my life.

Due to this policy, my mother’s life had totally changed and was different than before, and she had encountered and suffered a lot of unnecessary problems. In the past, traditional thought in China was sons were more important than daughters. I had an older sister, and my mother decided to have one more child. The policy was so strict at that time. When I was in the belly of my mother, she lost a lot of freedom. For example, she couldn’t walk on the street or go to anywhere because the government would send people to check the houses to see if there were pregnant women at home. When pregnant women got caught, people from the government would send them to the hospital and get an abortion. Due to this reason, my mother couldn’t stay at home because she wasn’t sure when people would check the house, and she went to my uncle’s house to hide.

After I was born, my childhood was different than other children. My mother told me that I was born in my uncle’s house. I wasn’t born in the hospital, so my birth was a secret for the government. At that time, I didn’t even have a Chinese ID card. When I turned four years old, I tried to go to kindergarten. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go because I didn’t have an ID card. I had to get in school to study, so I applied for a new ID card. My family was fined because of my birth. The amount of money we paid the government was huge. Even though I got my ID card later, I still needed to pay a lot for it. In the end, I skipped kindergarten and went straight to first grade.

Furthermore, the burden and the pressure on my family was heavier. No doubt, my family was hardworking. At that age, we lived in the countryside and worked on farming. Since my mother was pregnant, my father had more responsibility to take care of my family. He needed to take care of the farm and work in the factory. My grandmother and grandfather were retired, but they had to help my father to take care of the farm too. They would take the harvest vegetables and fruit sell it to the market every morning. My father, mother, grandmother, and grandfather never complained or regretted. Whenever they told me this story, they were very proud of themselves. Regardless of the policy, my mother would say everything for me was worth it.

In conclusion, the effect of the One Child Policy brought my family into a difficult situation and even changed my life. In 2017, the government voided the policy and encouraged people to have children. The reason is many old people become lonely and the is a lot of pressure for the children. The reason that the government changed the policy is if two only children marry together, they have the responsibility to take care both sides of their parents. However, I feel lucky that I born was in my family because they never gave up on me. I appreciate that my mother has given me a wonderful life.