Zhongguo, which is another name for China in Mandarin, means Middle Kingdom when translated to English. China is also called the Center of the Universe ("9a. the middle"). The Chou people of the Zhou Empire, who had occupied the North China Plain in 1000 B.C., were unaware of the Western civilizations, and believed that they were living at the center of the earth. Today, although “Middle Kingdom” is regarded as more of a retrospective and subjective term by the rest of the world, while the one quarter of the world's population in China still believe that they are at the center of civilization and view the remainder three-quarter of the world’s population as outsiders. Regardless of whether China really is the Middle Kingdom or not, a dramatic demographic transformation has been ushered in China in the form of population growth issues and a delay in industrialization because of the mindset of the people.
The population of the world is expected to reach the 7 billion mark, and it is surprising that 20% or one-fourth of the world’s population is residing in China (Weiss, 2012). What is even more surprising is that China actually does not have enough people. In fact, population growth issues are among the significant problems that China is currently facing. At one time it might have seemed sensible that the vast population of China needed to be controlled. 400 million births have been prevented in China between 1979 and 2011 ("400 million births") a year after the one child policy law was implemented in China. However, today, the one-child policy in the country has been deemed absurd and brutal, and has irrevocably damaged China’s structure of population growth. Although the Chinese government has prevented these births in the name of mitigating economic, environmental and social problems, but it has caused problems for the country in terms of population division and gender balance.
Based on the UN Population Division, only 31% of the total population in China by 2050 will comprise of elderly individuals over the age of 60. On the other hand, merely 21% of the population will comprise of children and young adults below the age of 20 ("World population ageing"). Apart from the fact the China’s age distribution is distorted, an extremely serious gender imbalance has also been aggravated by the one child policy. The male population of China is much greater than the female population because there has always been a strong preference for male offspring in Chinese culture. As a result of the one-child policy, families in China took many measures to ensure that their only offspring was male, from female infanticide in the early days to sex-selective abortions ever since ultrasound technology emerged ("Female infanticide in").
Another pitfall of the belief systems of the people living in the apparent center of the universe was the delay in industrialization in China. At the time of the Industrial Revolution, the Chinese were more focused on strengthening relationships between families and communities. This is the most likely reason that Industrialization took so long to come to China. In the 1950s after the introduction of Great Leap Forward act ("Great leap forward"), attempts were made to implement rapid collectivization and industrialization in the country, unfortunately things came spiraling down two years later. Thus, not only did take China to transform into the highly industrialized nation that it is today with a highly intelligent workforce, but this instant and rapid industrialization not only took time but it came with its failures. Moreover, even though China is the second-largest country in the world, and the outside world is aware that one-fourth of the world’s population is present in China, but very few know the truth about the population growth issues in regard to a population division that the country is facing.
References
400 million births prevented by one-child policy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://english.people.com.cn/90882/7629166.html
9a. the middle kingdom. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/civ/9a.asp
China's population and economy are a double whammy for the world. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/population/la-fg-population-matters4-20120727-html,0,4128486.htmlstory
Female infanticide in India and China. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.domesticviolenceservices.com/female-infanticide.html
Great leap forward (1958-1961). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://chineseposters.net/themes/great-leap-forward.php
Weiss, K. R. (2012, Jul 22). China's population and economy are a double whammy for the world. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/population/la-fg-population-matters4-20120727-html,0,4128486.htmlstory
World population ageing 1950-2050. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/pdf/065china.pdf
