Why The Birth Rate Is Dropping Here

. Essay, Research Paper

Probably no country in the world pays so much attention to its descendants as China does. The old saying, More children equal to more happiness , has been hold as a strong belief for thousands of years. It is well known that the large population was one of biggest burden of China s further development. Therefore, the Chinese government carried out the family planning policy in the late 70s, using this coercive means, in order to control the population growth. But, a unique phenomenon is that as the millenium drawing near, Chinese attitudes toward family planning policy is changing from passive to initiative. In those developed areas, the birthrate is dropping, especially that coastal area, the population is undergoing a negative growth. Many young couples are willing to have only one child. Even the western pattern of Dinky (Dual Income & No Kids Yet) has appeared here. Why the birthrate is dropping here. Is it the extreme result of family planning . A long-term statistics from 1970 to 1995 shows that as time pass by, the policy s role in the population change is decreasing. In China the dropping of birthrate is just a problem of time. We may have many speculations about the problem. Comparing to the death rate, the dropping of the birthrate is a comprehensive result of economical, political, social, cultural factors. But in my point of view, the main reason for this phenomenon is that people s perception of time is changing. In this paper, through a brief analysis of this phenomenon, I ll try to illustrate some change in modern China, and make out some challenges and opportunities.Part 1: Motives1.More time wanted for self training. Traditional Chinese couples would choose to have a baby shortly after they got married mainly because there was little space for them to seek further development. Even if a young man worked hard in his office diligently for eight hours per days, there was still little chance for him to get a promotion because of the bureaucracy. The blur encouraging system hindered people form further self-making. For those young couple, time was abundant and of low cost and to bear a baby is a good way to kill time. From this point of view, children were more like some durable products or goods. But with the establishment of market-oriented economy, many new perceptions and ways of management flood in everyday. For the young people nowadays, everyday, they face with many challenges and opportunities. Job-promotion is just a common thing for them. Correspondingly, enterprises with ask for more highly qualified employees. Several years ago, a high school graduate would be of great value on the job market, but what enterprises seek now are MBAs and EMBAs. Young people need more time for further study. Their knowledge is refreshed every one or two years. And with the improving working efficiency, the eight working hours is just for working, then how to get time for self-making. For those young ones, time is the most precious thing. Bearing and bring up a child will consume time and relevant factors on three aspects. First, parents will have to decrease their working time directly. And then they will lose precious time and opportunities for re-training, thus, they can not get a better job and a higher salary. What s more, the family members leisure time will be reduced. However, bearing a child is a behavior of economical rationality, and it should conform to the principle of maxim benefit. Young couples are willing to have more children only when products exceed inputs. When there more attempting opportunities, naturally, they will choose to have one or even no child.2.A strong anticipation for future time Traditional Chinese couples tended to have more children even if they were very poor. Sometimes, young children should wear what their elder brother had worn. But nowadays, the living conditions are greatly improved, and most big-city young couples are highly educated and well paid. Then why do they choose to have one or no child. Objectively, there are four kinds of utilities that can children bring to his parents.1) Consumption-utility. Children can bring to his parents spiritual happiness and emotional contention.2) Economical-utility. Children can be taken as products that will bring economical benefits to their parents.3) Precaution-utility. Adult children can share the family risk with their parents.4) Guarantee-utility. Children will be a potential guarantee for their parents aged life. During the time of planned economy, it was just easy for people to get a stable salary according to the principal of equal benefits. But the income is only enough for daily expense, and would not leave much for saving. Life would be quite if everything was ok, but when there were some unexpected things, such as sudden disease or accidents, people would find themselves lack the ability for the precaution of risks. So, ordinarily, people feel ignorant about their future, what they can hold for sure is only now . Thus, Chinese used to put great attention to the economical and guarantee utility of children. The money parents spend on their children was seen as a kind of investment. Parents do expect returns, they hope strongly for the filial guarantee of their future; also they hope they can rely on their children for their aged life and future risks. In China, to bearing a child equals to buy a share of insurance. Some people even hold that depending on child