Geography : China

• One-child policy


  Policy introduced by the Chinese government in 1970 where couples in towns and cities can only have one child
• One-child policy


  1. Couples in rural areas may get permission to have two children if both parents were an only child or the first child was a girl

  2. Penalties for having more than the quota: Fines and loss of other benefits

  3. Ethnic minorities can have more than two children per family
• Ways China made the one-child policy work

  • Penalties for having more than one child: Fines, loss of benefits
  • Enforcement by the government - couples must have permission to have a child
  • Provision of benefits for families with only one child: Better healthcare
• End of the one-child policy, but couples still require government-issued birth permits and face sanctions like forced abortion if they have more than two children

  2016
• Good aspects of being an only child

  • Saves money for parents
  • Loyal to China, avoid penalties
• Bad aspects of being an only child

  • Makes the child unhappy as they have no one to play with
  • Makes the child spoiled
  • Puts pressure on the child
• Penalties for having a second child

  • Fines/financial problems
  • Demotion at work
  • Forced abortions and sterilisation
  • Loss of respect, becoming an outcast
• Problems China faced with the one-child policy

  • Millions of baby girls were abandoned or aborted
  • Future shortage of women, some men may not be able to marry
  • Aging population puts pressure on healthcare system
  • Decreasing future workforce
• The one-child policy was a bad idea because it made children unhappy, spoiled them, and led to issues like a shortage of women and an aging population
• Three Gorges Dam


  Largest hydroelectric plant in the world, helps control devastating floods downstream
• Positives of the Three Gorges Dam

  • Generates electricity for 4.5 million people
  • Prevents flooding
  • Easier navigation upstream
  • Allows large ships to pass through
  • Good impacts on economy, 20k jobs created
  • Saves money in the future
• Negatives of the Three Gorges Dam

  • Risk of collapse
  • 1.4 million people relocated
  • Affects wildlife
  • Causes many landslides
• The Three Gorges Dam slows down the Earth's rotation
• The total cost of the Three Gorges Dam was $20 billion USD
• The Three Gorges Dam is not flawless
• There is no turning back from the Three Gorges Dam
• Location of the Three Gorges Dam

  On the Yangtze River in China's Hubei Province
• Appearance of the Three Gorges Dam

  • Spans larger than Singapore, 2335m long and 185m high, used 27.15 million cubic metres of cement and 281 million tonnes of metal
• China's state philosophy was to have a large population for a strong nation

  1950s
• Rapid population growth became unsustainable, so a population campaign was launched to encourage fewer children

  1970s
• One Child Policy introduced to reduce birth rate and slow population growth


  1975-1979
• China has over 1.37 billion people
• China's population distribution


  • Uneven, with the west being sparsely populated and the east being densely populated
• China's largest cities are on the coast, such as Beijing (13.2 million), Shanghai (15.6 million) and Hong Kong (7 million)
• There may be overcrowding in some areas in eastern China
• Factors explaining China's uneven population distribution

  • Relief (high, mountainous west vs low, fertile east)
  • Climate (cold, dry west vs mild, wet east)
  • Remoteness (west is far from coast)
• The Huabei Plain in eastern China has flat, fertile land and major rivers, providing good opportunities for farming and food production
• The one child policy was introduced to control population growth, which is the increase in number of people.