By SAM HARPER/Murphy News Service
Asian students and faculty members at the University of Minnesota expressed a variety of opinions after the announcement that China will end its long-standing one-child policy, a population-control policy that restricted families to having one child.
Xinhua, a China state-run newspaper, reported a statement from the ruling party on their October decision to do away with the old policy established in the 1970s, stating, “China will fully implement the policy of ‘one couple, two children’ in a proactive response to the issue of an aging population.”
The proposal has begun to go into effect, but still needs approval from China’s legislature in March, reported CNN.
Students and faculty at the U shared mixed feelings on the upcoming policy change.
Senior teaching specialist Chi-ping Li felt that the one-child policy has brought about problems in Chinese society and had negative impacts on family structure and marriages, but was skeptical nonetheless that the new policy would be widely embraced.
“I wonder if people in the big cities want to have more kids now,” Li said. “They are worried about education fees, the environment and the duty of taking care of kids.”
Li, who is Taiwanese, reflected on the fact that many people in the bigger cities don’t want to have children because of all the societal and environmental issues they would be born into.
Jiabin Dai, a Chinese student at the U shared a similar view.
“The cost of having a second child is too expensive in many cities to the point that many couples will not have that second baby,” Dai said. “The trend of not having even one baby is also growing in China.”
From the city of Suzhou, Dai felt that the policy change is a good thing in theory, but happened too late to have the intended effect, and that China as a country will not be ready for the change.
“China is in a hyper-stressed state, to the point I don’t think the average family will be able to raise their kid in a healthy environment,” Dai said. “Society is not ready. [The] economy is not ready and the mindset is not ready.”
Students without ties to China had different opinions on the matter. Susan Phetsamone, a sophomore at the U, said she has heard of the policy, but not in great detail.
Phetsamone said that although the policy didn’t have any direct impacts on her personally, it was very restricting. “I think it limits people,” she said.
U student Louis Schwartz saw potential implications for expansion and a rise in the housing market in the bigger Chinese cities. But said, “No one should dictate the amount of children you can have,” he said.
The new policy allowing couples to have two children has yet to go into full effect, but many question how effective it will be. State media reported that only about 1 million of the 11 million eligible couples have applied to have a second child.
Reporter Sam Harper is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.