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The country of China, for many years, has undergone dramatic changes as its
population growth has accelerated due to the increase in fertility rates and
the decrease in infant mortality rates. Although this large country is one
of the leading countries in the world market with a great quantity of people
and progress in technology, other factors have downplayed its role as the
home of millions of Chinese. As a result of the skyrocketing of China's
overwhelming population, the country is confronted by an irrational
population structure, economic failures, as well as the cruel necessity of a
strong oppressive government.
In such an enormous country limited by resources and opportunities, the
people of China have become the victims of an unreasonable population
structure. Since most of China is composed of mountainous regions with
little resources to offer, the Chinese are forced to establish cities and
homes in the Far East near rivers, the ocean, and other 'life springs.' The
overcrowded cities do not have sufficient space and resources to provide for
the increasing demand for food, education, employment, and healthy living
conditions. Most of the population, which is composed of mostly adolescents,
is left in poor living-conditions, hungry, and without adequate education,
as their parents of the past generation struggle through each day earning
little money and attempting to meet the family needs. The vast and
unoccupied land that makes up most of China is unsuitable for farming and
raising livestock, which creates a useless drawback in supplying the Chinese
with variety in food. The small variety in food causes long-term effects in
malnutrition and other health complications. Within the dirty and crowded
living conditions, the level of health of each Chinese is depreciated. As
millions of impoverished Chinese live in a society without much opportunity,
this system of insufficiency becomes a continuous cycle of hardship and
challenge for those not fortunate enough to overcome poverty and rise into
the rare upper class. Not only do the affects of poverty affect the
community, it also affects the economic potential.
China' s role in domestic and world economies has experienced several
economic failures in the past years that have resulted from certain
conditions that have impeded the nation's economic progress. A closer look
at the per capita GDP of the nation reveals that the country's economy has
suffered from small advancements in infrastructure and increased spending on
human resources provided within the country itself. According to a basic
population-economics theory, a 1% increase in the population will need at
least a 3% increase of economic growth in order to sustain the economic
stability. If economic development fails to keep pace with population
growth, the newly added population will eat up the newly produced GNP, thus
depleting resources to improve the living standard of the population at
large. Side-by-side with the per capita GDP of the United States of 42,641,
for example, the feeble 6,482 of China is rather far under the normal
average. Experiences in some regions of China and in many other developing
nations have proved that controlled population growth is the key for
economic take off, yet unfortunately, China is withheld from that option
until its population of people comes under control.
Analysis by the United Nations Development Program show that knowledge
contributes to over two-thirds of the econolJ1ic growth of developed nations
and is one of the most important factors compared with material input and
labor force. China is challenged by such degradation in its economic
progress because it lacks an ample supply of education and high quality
human resources, which have been proven to be the components of an improved
population quality and economy. Even though population is a factor to
economic failure, the root came from China's changed government.
Near the end of World War I, China fell under Communist rule. This type of
government creates a barrier between the country's pushing-towards-failure
status and success. Because of the major population issue, the government
must take strong control over the Chinese not only to maintain order, but
also to emphasize the need to regulate the birth rate in some form or
fashion. For a long time, there has been corruption in the society among the
people due to the large uncontrollable numbers of people. Rioting, violence,
an~ disorder used to he one of the major issues that have somewhat been
quelled by the totalitarian government ruled by Communists. Besides
oppressing the Chinese and limiting their hope for personal success for the
cause of sustaining social order, the government has set forth its
five-year, ten-year and fifty-year targets for its population control and
development program, according to a white paper released by the State
Council just recently. China as drafted a law on population and family
planning and related regulations to ensure the national policy of family
planning and the realization of birth control targets. By 2005, China aims
to keep its population within 1.33 billion (excluding the population of the
Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan Province), and
the figure} will be controlled within 1.4 billion by 2~10, and will peak at
nearly 1.6 billion at the middle of the century. The Communists intentions
are not exactly centered on preventing the people from achievement in the
society, but to uphold an orderly nation of over 1 billion people although
their image of an orderly nation is not ideal for the average Chinese
citizen.
As the population of China relentlessly grows, the overpopulated nation
becomes a home to over 1 billion Chinese who face everyday hardships that
come with an unstable population structure, a challenged economic status,
and the need for a controlling government. The overpopulation had created
multi-dimensional roots of poverty and challenges that must be met by not
only the Chinese people but also the government officials. Even though China
possesses a great position in the technological world, its nation's success
is yet to be determined by the manner in which the nation allows itself to
be affected by the influences of the enormous population. |
第八十九期二００二年十月
