Editing One-child policy (section)

== History ==
The one-child policy was originally designed to be a "One-Generation Policy".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fong |first=Vanessa L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0-la2vliXwC&pg=PA179 |title=Only Hope |date=2004 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=9780804753302 |pages=179 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603204905/https://books.google.com/books?id=A0-la2vliXwC&pg=PA179 |archive-date=3 June 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was enforced at the provincial level and enforcement varied; some provinces had more relaxed restrictions. The one-child limit was most strictly enforced in densely populated urban areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Status of Population and Family Planning Program in China by Province |url=http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/chinadata/intro.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330215041/http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/chinadata/intro.htm |archive-date=30 March 2012 |publisher=[[Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific]]}}</ref> When this policy was first introduced, 6.1 million families that had already given birth to a child were given "One Child Honorary Certificates". This was a pledge they had to make to ensure they would not have more children.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Zang |first1=Xiaowei |title=Handbook on the Family and Marriage in China |last2=Zhao |first2=Lucy |date=2017 |publisher=[[Edward Elgar Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-78536-819-6 |language=en |doi=10.4337/9781785368196.00016}}</ref>

Beginning in 1980, the official policy granted local officials the flexibility to make exceptions and allow second children in the case of "practical difficulties" (such as cases in which the father was a disabled serviceman) or when both parents were single children,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Scheuer |first=James |date=4 January 1987 |title=America, the U.N. and China's Family Planning (Opinion) |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD81F3BF937A15752C0A961948260 |url-status=live |access-date=27 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206074621/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD81F3BF937A15752C0A961948260 |archive-date=6 December 2008}}</ref> and some provinces had other exemptions worked into their policies as well. In most areas, families were allowed to apply to have a second child if their first-born was a daughter.<ref name="mostpeople">{{Cite web |date=11 July 2007 |title=Most people free to have more child |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/11/content_5432238.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820043920/http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/11/content_5432238.htm |archive-date=20 August 2009 |access-date=31 July 2009 |website=[[China Daily]]}}</ref><ref name="huiting2002">{{Cite news |last=Hu, Huiting |date=18 October 2002 |title=Family Planning Law and China's Birth Control Situation |work=[[China Daily]] |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2002/Oct/46138.htm |url-status=live |access-date=2 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209215715/http://china.org.cn/english/2002/Oct/46138.htm |archive-date=9 February 2009}}</ref> By 1984, only approximately 35.4% of the population fell within the policy's original restriction.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=167}}

Furthermore, families with children with [[disability in China|disabilities]] have different policies and families whose first child suffers from [[Disability|physical disability]], [[mental illness]], or [[intellectual disability]] were allowed to have more children.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=China's Only Child |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/listseason/11.html |access-date=13 October 2009 |series=NOVA |series-link=Nova (American TV series) |network=PBS |date=14 February 1984 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027010146/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/listseason/11.html |archive-date=27 October 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, second children were sometimes subject to [[birth spacing]] (usually three or four years). Children born overseas were not counted under the policy if they did not obtain [[Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China|Chinese citizenship]]. Chinese citizens returning from abroad were allowed to have a second child.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Qiang |first=Guo |date=28 December 2006 |title=Are the rich challenging family planning policy? |work=China Daily |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/28/content_770107.htm |url-status=live |access-date=13 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310184544/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/28/content_770107.htm |archive-date=10 March 2009}}</ref> [[Sichuan province]] allowed exemptions for couples of certain backgrounds.<ref>{{Citation |title=29th session of the standing committee of the 8th People's Congress of Sichuan Province |date=17 October 1997 |url=http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_china/ch_record075.htm |access-date=31 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706102031/http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_china/ch_record075.htm |at=Articles 11–13 |edition=rev |publisher=[[United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific]] |archive-date=6 July 2008}}</ref> By one estimate there were at least 22 ways in which parents could qualify for exceptions to the law towards the end of the one-child policy's existence.<ref name="NYT72212">{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Edward |date=22 July 2012 |title=Reports of Forced Abortions Fuel Push to End Chinese Law |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/pressure-to-repeal-chinas-one-child-law-is-growing.html |url-status=live |access-date=23 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723024903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/pressure-to-repeal-chinas-one-child-law-is-growing.html |archive-date=23 July 2012}}</ref>

In 1991, the central government made local governments directly responsible for family planning goals.<ref name=":Zhang">{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Angela Huyue |title=High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2024 |isbn=9780197682258 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197682258.001.0001}}</ref>{{Rp|page=77}} Also in the early 1990s, experts from leading population-research institutes began appealing to policymakers to relax or end the one-child policy.<ref name=":Zhang" />{{Rp|page=79}}

As of 2007, only 36% of the population were subjected to a strict one-child limit. 53% were permitted to have a second child if their first was a daughter; 9.6% of Chinese couples were permitted two children regardless of their gender; and 1.6% – mainly [[Tibetan people|Tibetans]] – had no limit at all.<ref name="australian">{{Cite news |last=Callick |first=Rowan |date=24 January 2007 |title=China relaxes its one-child policy |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/china-relaxes-its-one-child-policy/story-e6frg6so-1111112880730 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517075913/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/china-relaxes-its-one-child-policy/story-e6frg6so-1111112880730 |archive-date=17 May 2013 |access-date=1 December 2011 |work=The Australian}}</ref>

[[File:Danshan Nongguang Village Bulletin board.jpg|thumb|left|The Danshan, Sichuan Province Nongchang Village people Public Affairs Bulletin Board in September 2005 noted that [[Renminbi|RMB]] 25,000 in social compensation fees were owed in 2005. Thus far 11,500 RMB had been collected, so another 13,500 RMB had to be collected.]]

Following the devastating [[2008 Sichuan earthquake]], a new exception to the regulations was announced in Sichuan for parents who had lost children in the earthquake.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Andrew Jacobs |date=27 May 2008 |title=One-Child Policy Lifted for Quake Victims' Parents |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/world/asia/27child.html |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210095100/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/world/asia/27child.html |archive-date=10 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Baby offer for earthquake parents |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7440480.stm |access-date=31 October 2008}}</ref> Similar exceptions had previously been made for parents of severely disabled or deceased children.<ref>{{Cite news |title=China Amends Child Policy for Some Quake Victims |work=Morning Edition |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90931455 |url-status=live |access-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213135336/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90931455 |archive-date=13 February 2018}}</ref> People have also tried to evade the policy by giving birth to a second child in [[Hong Kong]], but at least for Guangdong residents, the one-child policy was also enforced if the birth took place in Hong Kong or abroad.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tan, Kenneth |date=9 February 2012 |title=Hong Kong to issue blanket ban on mothers from the mainland? |url=http://shanghaiist.com/2012/02/09/hong_kong_to_issue_blanket_ban_on_m.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515001141/http://shanghaiist.com/2012/02/09/hong_kong_to_issue_blanket_ban_on_m.php |archive-date=15 May 2014 |access-date=4 October 2013 |publisher=Shanghaiist}}</ref>

In accordance with China's [[affirmative action in China|affirmative action]] policies towards [[List of ethnic groups in China|ethnic minorities]], all non-[[Han Chinese|Han]] ethnic groups were subject to different laws and were usually allowed to have two children in urban areas, and three or four in rural areas.<ref name=":13" /> Han Chinese living in rural towns were also permitted to have two children.<ref name="yardley">{{Cite news |last=Yardley |first=Jim |date=11 May 2008 |title=China Sticking With One-Child Policy |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/world/asia/11china.html |url-status=live |access-date=20 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110327121720/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/world/asia/11china.html |archive-date=27 March 2011}}</ref> Because of couples such as these, as well as those who simply paid a fine (or "social maintenance fee") to have more children,<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 December 2005 |title=New rich challenge family planning policy |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-12/14/content_3918776.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015192912/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-12/14/content_3918776.htm |archive-date=15 October 2007 |website=[[Xinhua]]}}</ref> the overall [[fertility rate]] of mainland China was close to 1.4 children per woman {{as of|2011|lc=y}}.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 May 2011 |title=The most surprising demographic crisis |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=http://www.economist.com/node/18651512 |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031132641/http://www.economist.com/node/18651512 |archive-date=31 October 2011}}</ref>

On 6 January 2010, the former [[National Population and Family Planning Commission]] issued the "national population development" [[Twelfth Five-Year Plan (People's Republic of China)|12th five-year plan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=从"一胎化"到"全面二孩" ——40年我国人口政策变化与政协声音 |url=http://www.rmzxb.com.cn/c/2018-12-18/2244617.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122144956/http://www.rmzxb.com.cn/c/2018-12-18/2244617.shtml |archive-date=22 January 2019}}</ref>

On 1 January 2016, the one-child policy was replaced by the [[Two-child_policy#China|two-child policy]].