Geography, especially human geography, is an ever-changing discipline. New regimes are coming into power as we speak, poltical movements are gaining ground, global economics are shifting from one place to the next, and the environment is constantly shifting beneath our feet. From time to time, then, it is important to update the information from your textbook. Though it is only a few years old at this point it does contain either major omissions or outdated information.

China's One Child Policy

Passed in 1979 and adopted in 1980, China enacted the One Child Policy to curb its drastic population growth, which had grown out of control due to Mao Zedong's attempt to grow the agricultural labor force of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Couples were required to recieve a permit to have a child, though there were some exceptions if you lived in rural areas or if your first child was a girl. The government even limited marraiges, ensuring they could only be permitted between men of 22 years or older and women of 20 years or older.

Here is a video reviewing some of the finer points and issues of the policy.

However, China recently got rid of the One Child Policy, replacing it with a Two Child Policy. The reason points to a problem that China shares with Japan, namely a large and growing population of retired persons who need to be supported by the state. As the dependency ratio (the proportion of non-working people who must be supported within a population) grows within China, they are changing their policy to make best use of their massive workforce. Click on the link below to see the news article from when the policy changed in early 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNKQT7Ub2Ps