We use the term "soft-despotism" to refer to the smothering embrace of the Western nanny state, driven by the demands of perverted consciences, riven by pseudo-guilt and self-righteous pity. The alternative to soft-despotism is hard-despotism. China is a nation with a hard-despotic system. China is attempting to change, we are told, and we are sure there is truth in it. But the social consequences of decades of hard despotism will take generations to work through and out.
Many of those consequences arise out of China's hard despotic attempt to control its population growth--something which the current leaders are now starting deeply to regret we suspect. It is a startling lesson in what happens when a culture institutionalises and enforces atheistic rebellion against the Living God. The curses of God's covenant fall--and they are exacting, hard, and remorseless. Deep remorse, turning away from Unbelief, returning to the Creator and Redeemer and walking along a new road, His road, are the only ways of genuine escape. Traditional Chinese pragmatism will not suffice. The societal damage is too severe.
A recent article in the Telegraph succinctly presents just some aspects of the burgeoning social dislocation and economic disruption facing China as a result of the One-Child Policy.
Some economists fear the double-digit growth China has enjoyed for the past decade may rapidly unwind – and the one child policy is to blame. The 1979 policy was introduced to curb China’s booming population, with families heavily fined for breaching strict birth control limits.
The policy has left China short of 50m women…
A preference for boys – not least because they can earn more to support their parents – means endemic illegal sex-selective abortions and the abandonment of baby girls. The sex ratio is estimated at 120 boys for every 100 girls, far above the global average and leaving the country with 50m fewer women than men.
...a generation of ‘little emperors’...
The one-child cohort became known as the ‘spoilt generation’. Scientists claim it has fundamentally changed the psychology of a generation, leaving them less altruistic, trusting and competitive. And all that pampering has left China with one of the fastest growing rates of childhood obesity.
...and a booming lonely hearts industry.
Competition for brides is fierce, particularly in the countryside. Love hunters – agents who find brides for China’s army of wealthy but lonely young bachelors – are big business, as is internet dating.
Now it’s inflating China's housing market
Many mothers will only accept a son-in-law who can provide a spacious home. Economists reckon competition for large homes is driving China’s rampant property boom. A small two-bedroom Beijing flat now costs the average of 32-years’ salary, or $330,000 dollars. China’s property moguls are uneasy – and fear the boom has become a bubble at risk of bursting.
Researchers Zhang and Wei reckon between 30 and 48 per cent in the rise in house prices between 2003 and 2009 was down to gender imbalances, with strong correlations between sex ratios in different towns and house price increases.
Meanwhile, the army of grandparents is growing...
The Mao generation of big families is hitting retirement, and the birth rate has been below replacement level since the mid-1990s. China is rapidly ageing, and by 2050 a third of the population will be over 60. By then there will be just two workers to support every elderly person.
The result: the world’s biggest care homes, and the rise of 4-2-1 families: four frail grandparents, two parents and one grandchild to support them all.
China’s stonking growth has been built on cheap exports and plentiful industrial labour, as tens of millions of people were willing to move to the cities and work long hours for low wages. But the country is approaching what is known as the Lewis Turning Point – where the glut of cheap labour dries up, and businesses have to invest in expensive technology to keep expanding.
...and that will hit everyone.
Policy makers are alarmed. The one child policy is leaving the economy short of 140m workers. That will drive up wages, hit profits and push away investment. Citigroup economists warn it could cut 3 per cent off China’s GDP - a slowdown that would be felt around the world.
And many countries in Africa and Latin America have got stuck at a relatively low level of development after a spate of rapid growth after failing to make it over the Turning Point. That fate could befall China – dashing its hopes of becoming a superpower.
What is the Lewis turning point?
It is based on a development model created by Nobel prize winning economist Arthur Lewis, who looked at the dual aspect of a developing economy.
The first is represented by its agricultural sector, which engages a major part of the labour force, and the second by the modern market-oriented sector, which is primarily engaged in industrial production. The growth of the economy is driven by the modern sector with the support of unlimited supplies of labour, which is mainly drawn from the agricultural sector. This migrant labour force accepts low wages corresponding to the living standards prevalent in farming.
The modern sector (also called the capitalist sector) is able to reap profits and—helped by low labour costs—generate savings. The growing savings finance the capital formation for expansion. However, a point is reached when no more labour is forthcoming from the underdeveloped, or agricultural, sector and wages begin to rise. This is known as the Lewis turning point. [http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-30/news/32942096_1_labour-agricultural-sector-china]
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