The news out of Guangxi Province in China was not so good yesterday. However, I suppose that depends on how you look at it. Villagers in this province rioted over China's one-child policy. They attacked government offices after officials imposed heavy fines on families who had too many children. Beijing allows urban dwellers to have one child, while rural families can have two...IF the first child is a girl. Locals accused officials of confiscating cattle, DVD players, crockery and other household goods in lieu of unpaid fines. One local man, Mr. Lu of Yulin village, said the riot started after the work teams bulldozed the house of a poor farmer who could not afford the fines. I've been reading reports all morning about the riots, and the horrific way the government sees fit to enforce the fines. I am encouraged that the villagers are standing up against the government, but then the government usually counters these kinds of protests by making life even worse for the people. I am inextricably tied to it because I know of a family who is affected by the one-child policy in this province. They are my daughter's birth family. I pray today they are safe.
3 comments:
I got most of the information from BBC and the Guardian. Chinese news media seems to be stilted on the subject...
Although we hear so many horror stories from China, I have to say this is one where I back up the CCP. China has a population problem, a big one. Failure to curb this massive population will lead to results which will be much more devastating than any perceived human rights violations. We are talking massive famines, pollution, lack of healthecare, etc. The only way to control this population is through the system of fines an penalties. If people can't pay the fines, then the government has every right to confiscate their stuff. This is exactly what happens in the US when you don't pay your taxes. If there were no means to inforce the family planning policy, Chinese families would still mostly be having five or six chldren and the population would be even more out of control than it already is.
Yes, China most certainly has a population problem. My issue is with how this problem is handled by the government. In the US, if you don't pay your taxes, your property may be seized by due process, but certainly not by the government bulldozing your house. The government continues to oppress the peasants, and back them into impossible corners. I agree, the population problem is going to contribute to major environmental issues, as well as other devastating results. But they will also have to deal with the male to female ratio problem. A generation of baby girls has vanished because the government chooses to deal with the problem in a way that only makes it worse.
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