Sir, – Carter Dillard (August 28th) argues that "countries are free to implement population policies that gently guide their citizens to make good decisions, in much the way that some states guide their citizens to wear seatbelts and avoid cigarettes". However unlike wearing seatbelts and avoiding smoking, the long-term effects of China's one child policy are not yet known.
The extra population might have drained China of resources, and it is probably more economically powerful as a result of the one child policy, but it doesn’t necessarily mean Chinese society is “better”. Major social changes are occurring in China’s population. Confucian teachings (among other things) have influenced a distinct preference for male children in Chinese society. Therefore we see an increase in sex-selective abortion, a lack of care for female babies, and a rising gender imbalance. Words such as “cousin”, “aunt” and “uncle” are losing their meaning. There is huge pressure on men to marry, and there is a danger that the realm of marriage may become a reality only for the privileged upper class.
Vanessa Fong of Harvard University, in her extensive studies on the one child policy, finds that many of China’s “only children” have developed behavioural problems and negative personality traits.
While many of these areas will require much more in-depth investigation over the coming years, to create a dichotomy whereby “population control equals good” and “population growth equals bad” in China, without examining the effects of both in a more nuanced manner, is misleading and disingenuous. – Yours, etc,
DAVID ROCHE,
Davis Terrace,
Clonmel, Co Tipperary.