Wu Guangqiang

IN a huge country with a large population and a weak economic foundation like China, State policies are unlikely to be perfect. A good policy may be in the fundamental interest of the nation as a whole, but there may also be undesired downsides. Therefore, it is advisable for the policymakers to make timely adjustments to the policy whenever necessary.

The one-child policy is an example. Introduced in 1979, when China was home to a quarter of the world’s people and just 7 percent of world’s arable land, the policy was the only choice at that time if the fast-growing population was to be fed and living standards to be improved.

The efforts to implement the policy were on an unprecedented scale. It’s estimated that at least 300 million births have been prevented since the adoption of the policy, which would otherwise drag down China’s per capita GDP by a big margin. China could not be what it is today without this policy.

Yet many of the policy’s imperfections are posing challenges to society.

Compared with a multiple-child family, the one-child family is extremely fragile — death or serious injury to the only child may bring disaster to the entire family.

On May 9, Guangzhou Daily ran a special report unveiling a little-known group of people: parents who lost their only child. The daunting data shows that each year an additional 76,000 families in China become childless after they lose their only child to an illness or accident. A new term has been coined to refer to such families: shiduzhe (parents who lost their only child). It is estimated that at present there are at least a million such families in China.

A number of previously conducted censuses or sample surveys showed that 218 million siblingless children were born in China between 1975 and 2010.

Based on the age-specific mortality rate released in the 2000 census, (the rate has changed little over the past decade), of every 10,000 newborn babies at birth, 360 will die before the age of 10, 463 before 25, and 760 before 44. At this rate, 10 million mothers of the only-child families will become childless when they turn 51 and the number will ascend to 16.5 million when they reach 70.

The impact of losing their only child is devastating to parents. On Jan. 22, the Eve of the Chinese New Year, Yang Weiguo and Cai Li, a couple in Nanchang, capital city of Jiangxi Province, were weeping at their daughter’s grave. The 23-year-old postgrad at a college in the province was killed in a traffic accident on campus last March. The loss of the promising daughter wrecked all the hopes of the parents and the bereaved father tried twice to end his own life.

Not only will the growing number of shiduzhe take a toll on the distressed families, it will also inflict a heavy burden on the society in terms of caring for the childless elderly.

As known to all parents, bringing up the only child is an arduous task. Though the “little emperor” or “princess” may enjoy unshared love from his/her parents, overprotection and overindulgence may bring about some negative traits in the child. These include self-centeredness, selfishness, apathy, lack of discipline, and lack of social skills.

As a teacher, I’ve seen many teenagers with behavioral problems. Most of these only-children spend much of their time alone, hence being more susceptible to bad habits like Internet addiction and falling in with bad crowds. The teens are a particularly difficult age for their relationship with their parents.

Naturally, a self-centered only-child will have trouble establishing a happy marriage; neither of the spouses has learned enough to care about the other half. As a result, the divorce rate is on the rise among young couples.

The authorities may have other more urgent concerns to address, but the one-child policy deserves an adjustment before it turns into a thorny issue.

(The author is an English tutor and a freelance writer. He can be reached at jw368@163.com.)