Expository Essay

Chinas population was 541.67 million in 1949 when the Peoples

Republic of China was founded. In the following years, China
witnessed a surprising rapid growth of population in a peaceful
environment. The population rose to 892.11 million in 1973. In the
1980s Chinas population has already reached over 1 billion.
The president of Peking University, Dr. Ma Yinchu had earlier
recognized that if no one stood out to do something to control
Chinas population, in a few years the problem of Chinas population
would be extremely too difficult to solve. However, his proposal of
birth control was not in favor of Chairman Maos proposition. Mao
thought strength in numbers and encouraged people to give birth
to as many babies as they can to reconstruct China in order to
pursue a large-scale industry development.
After the passing away of Chairman Mao, Mas proposal of birth
control has been proved right. As the rapid increase in population
exerted great pressure on economic and social development, the
government began to realize the importance of promoting family
planning.
In 1981, the government declared for the first time, Chinas
population policy is to control the size and raise the quality of the
population. The policy calls for late marriage, late and fewer births,
and better prenatal care; and it encourages couples to have only
one child. We can see the combination of the red and yellow slogan

in the propaganda below the big title Family Planning shows the
readers that this stands for China because of the main colors in the
propaganda that appears in the Chinas national flag. The color red
can also tell the readers who the writer of the propaganda: the
radical and cynical teenagers in the 1980s in China.
With years of publicity efforts, people have had greater
awareness of the family planning policy, and they willing to observe
the policy requirements. The clearly slogan in the middle of the
propaganda Rather add ten more graves, do not add one more
baby was a transform from a Chinese idiom that means rather be a
shattered vessel of jade than an unbroken piece of pottery.
Consequently, the population increase has been slowed down. This
kind of propaganda which aims obviously at reducing the too fast
increasing population in China has finally achieved its results. With
no doubt at all, the propaganda has produced its tremendous
positive outcome. In 2002 China enacted the Population and Family
Planning Law, which went into force on September 1 the same year.
Anyhow towards this family planning policy and the approaches
in implementing the policy, the masses naturally have various views
and attitudes. A great number of contemporary people including me
might see these posters as a daunting propaganda which is pretty
insane. It has arbitrarily limited peoples human rights. To have how
many children should be a matter decided by them own. We might
obliviously consider is it still necessary for the government to
execute in strict rotation of the Family Planning. China is now facing

another awkward situation -- an increase in the proportion of the

elderly in the population and low birth rate. Now the government
has altered its birth control policy a little bit. In my point of view, I
think the government might release the policy in the coming years
for the above situation.
From the above, propaganda really has displayed its important
role in influencing peoples ideology and implementing the State
policy, yet what is most important should be able to identify
whether this kind of propaganda is in accordance with peoples
rights and welfare.