The year was 1979. China was emerging from decades of questionable economic policies and taking fledgling steps towards the explosive growth that would eventually attract the sordid likes of me to its shores. Two-thirds of the population was below the age of 30. It was a time of aspirations, of vigor, of youth … of baby-making. And so, the one-child policy was put in place. Keep the population in check. Harness and focus the raw, surging, thrusting, caressing, cooing, panting, moaning, giggling, cuddling drive of the people into the economy and country. Did it achieve its intended goal?
Fast forward thirty years to 2009. People yearn to love and to be loved. Men outnumber the women. Aging parents struggle with empty nest syndrome. Affection abounds, but no outlet exists. To what did they turn? Foreign women? No. Foreign Men? Yes. No. Adoption? No. Pets? Yes.
But, it looks like this outlet will soon be regulated as well. Long the case in Beijing, on July 1st Guangzhou will join the ranks of one-dog policy Chinese cities. That’s right, one-dog per household. Owners of multiple dogs will have to decide between keeping Benji or Cujo. New litters will face the tricky task of divvying up pups among multiple households. Spay/neutering will put an end to all those bitches in heat.**
Will city government take its cues from the recent Green Dam debacle and implement this policy with finesse? Indeed, we can draw multiple parallels with the Green Dam filtering software:
- Announcement of both directives came rather suddenly and without significant public discourse beforehand.
- Matters are brought right to the doorstep. While control measures were already in place through the Great Firewall of China, these were located in the ether, whereas Green Dam was a shoddy piece of software to be installed directly into one’s home computer. Similarly, population control measures have been in place with roundups of stray dogs, but these happened out of sight. The only thing out of sight from now on will be your Lassie.
- Public reaction will be emotional in nature. Emotional people are tricky to manage.
How this controlled experiment unfolds will be a good test of how savvy public administrators have become. The stakes are personal, but not too high since only a niche population will be affected, and it comes at a time when sympathy for indignant bourgeois dog owners will not likely override concern for economic slowdown. Perhaps, to facilitate enforcement, Guangzhou could simultaneously lift its ban on dog meat.**
* Lyrics by …
** I can’t believe I wrote that.
is this about software? i don’t know much about sofrware, but i know a little about population and one dog policy.
Undoubtedly, some politicians are a little crazy. But we have to agree, the one kid policy was a good one at that time.
I was born in a small city, and I’ve seen many people living a poor life with too many kids. They couldn’t afford the education, even no new clothes in spring festal, or birthday. Those kids, they don’t even know what birthday cake is, no mention the software. But now the situation is better than 30 years ago. Those people live a better life when they don’t have too much burden. Raising a kid is not an easy job, it’s more than bringing him/her to life, you have to give him/her love and support. I know the one kid policy also brings us an aging society. But there are some new policies on the population problem, the couple who are both single child can have 2 kids, and those peasants can have more than 1 kid especially the first kid is a girl. Oh, I really hate this, what’s wrong when the kid is a girl? But this is china, and we’re Chinese. Those people need boys to continue the blood and the family. And, those people who promise to have only one kid, can get child supporting money and some priority on education of the only child.
off work time. will write more when i get home.
Dear Karol,
No, my post was not an indictment of the one child policy. It’s not an indictment of any policy. It’s actually more about the creation and implementation of policy.
And here I was expecting you to just say, “Sofa.”
Respectfully,
Jay
Generally, you can’t open the door with the old key when you move into a new place. Even the policy was good, is it still good? Policy should be running ahead of the political situation. Some need to be replaced.
But, not all new stuff is good. I have no idea how the one-dog policy came out. It sounds so rude and unthoughtful. If they wanna kill all the dogs to keep the street clean, why don’t they just kill all the criminals to keep this country clean? From rmb6500 for a dog-keeper licence to one-dog policy, this city really did a GREAT job. And when I read the news about the law of animal protection last week, I thought i came back to April 1st. You can’t cut your hand off when you get a fester on it.
Last week, i was so upset about another GREAT new policy of housing fund. It’s said that people can’t cash their housing fund since July 1st. That’s robbery! It’s all my money! I have to save it in the bank because of the old housing fund policy, but now, you’re going to use some new policy to keep my money in your pocket? Lucky the whole city struck back, this new policy died in the end.
But how could they get such a great policy? It’s said that the housing fund department is running out of cash, or something like this, forgive my poor English. They spent so much for their new office building, so much for the employee welfare. God knows if it’s true!
Those poor puppies are still sufferring… this is another serious problem in China, most people don’t really care about animals. I am dying to read the law of animal protection.
Dear Karol,
An excellent reminder that the end result of these hastily conceived policies is the upstanding citizen. Sometimes, even minor disturbances can have a very real impact. Very well written.
Thanks,
Jay
sounds like a lolipop…….
I support this one dog policy. It is not the best but at least it would be a useful policy to restrict the dog owners. There is nothing wrong with keeping dogs, but it is so wrong that dog owners overused their humane feelings that they have granted their dogs so many freedoms….no vaccination.. freely peeing and messing up the streets…. running around without a leash…..biting ppl…transmitting rabies … making noise pollution.. Most of the owners never care about the disturbance brought by their lovely pets. They don’t have a sense of responsibility for the society. It has been totally out of control these years. If the dogs hadn’t done a lot of harm to the neighborhood or the society, ppl would not have that much anti voices. The ppl who don’t keep dogs are also emotional in nature and they are much more than dog owners.
The dog owners revolt against the policy that it impinges on their authority and deprive doggies of meeting their brothers or sisters. But what causes the policy? Why does the government enforce obedience on the regulation without public discourse? Ha.ha. the only explanation is that the government just woke up for the situation.
Dog owners, take some time to reflect before you curse the government. This policy aims for the dog owners not for the dogs! So, don’t level criticism at the government. The government is not that ruthless. You still have your right to adopt one lovely dog, right? . I believe that it is just a short pain at the beginning.
Can dogs coexist happily with people only if they are well controlled by their good quality owners. Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jay, Please tell me how to add my sexy cartoon profile here. thx..
Dear Jojoarez,
Firstly, I tend to agree with you on dog policy. It’s crazy here in Guangzhou. The other day, I was driving to work and I hit 17 stray dogs! And this was only a Tuesday! Don’t even start me on all the dogs that come out Friday night!
Secondly, I think we are at an interesting crossroads in the modern history of the CCP. There will be increasing demands from below to participate in governing affairs and for more transparency of information flow. How they manage this really dictates their future.
Thirdly, no cartoons allowed here.
Whimsically,
Jay
oo! i love this song by aimee mann~!!!
Dear Ling,
Thanks for your comment. I am familiar with the original, but I don’t know the Aimee Mann cover. Junde sent me the mp3, and it’s been languishing on my desktop waiting for me to click on it.
But, now that you’ve mentioned it, my curiosity is piqued. I am, of course, assuming you are a female. If you are actually a male named Ling, then the mp3 will remain unclicked — it may even get deleted.
Slyly,
Jay
Dear Jay, please click it!
Dear Cutiegirl85,
Click click click!
Jay
Hey Jay, great post, made me emotional and all. huahauhaua
i think the cccp should just declare that foreign dogs (breeds) are transmitting diseases such as HIV and should therefore be terminated (or eaten, which should be more pragmatic). Shoot the foreign dogs!
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/06/30/36000-stray-dogs-killed-china/
Only stupid barbarian eat dogs…. Why is it necessary to TORTURE it to death. So it tastes better????? Kill in humane way at least. They feel and experience pain and fear EXACTLY the SAME as we do, just because they are not as intelligent and cant speak. Come on, have some compassion for other living things..we are humans not monsters. Do u understand what I mean?
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