text stringlengths 59 1.12k |
|---|
mold Chinese attitudes towards population issues. China possesses a "deeply ingrained notion of dynastic cycles" that casts large populations as "a symbol of prosperity, power, and the ability to cope with outside threat." At the same time, though, "historical memory |
has also interpreted a large population as an omen of approaching crisis and downfall." It was not until economic and development issues re-emerged as priorities in post-Mao Zedong's China that the impetus toward the one-child policy began to build rapidly. |
During Mao's rule population control was often seen as inhibiting the potential of a large population, but in the years following his death it became apparent that China's population presented itself as more of a liability than an asset. Policymakers |
eager to reverse the country's backwardness saw population control as necessary to ensure improved economic performance. (In 1982, China's per-capita GDP stood at US$218, according to the World Bank. The U.S. per-capita GDP, by way of comparison, was about $14,000.) |
The campaign bore fruit when Mao's successor, Hua Guofeng, along with the State Council, including senior leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, decided on demographic targets that would curb the nation's high fertility rates. In 1979 the government announced that population |
growth must be lowered to a rate of natural increase of 0.5 percent per year by 1985. In fact, it took almost 20 years to reach a rate of 1 percent per year. (The overestimating was in part due to |
the lack of appropriate census data in 1979; it had been 15 years since the last population count and even then the numbers provided only a crude overview of the country's demography.) Nevertheless the Chinese government knew that promoting birth-planning |
policies was the only way to manifest their dedication and responsibility for future generations. In 1982 a new census was taken, allowing for more detailed planning. The government then affirmed the target of 1.2 billion Chinese for the year 2000. |
Demographers, however, were skeptical, predicting a resurgence in fertility levels at the turn of the century. The promotion of such ambitious population plans went hand in hand with the need for modernization. Though vast and rich in resources, China's quantitative |
advantages shrink when viewed from the per-capita perspective, and the heavy burden placed on its resources by China's sheer numbers dictates that population planning remain high on the national agenda. The government has also stressed the correlation between population control |
and the improved health and education of its citizens, as well as the ability to feed and employ them. In September 2003, the Chinese magazine Qiushi noted that "since population has always been at the core of sustainable development, it |
is precisely the growth of population and its demands that have led to the depletion of resources and the degradation of the environment. The reduction in birth rate, the changes in the population age structure, especially the improvement in the |
quality of the population, can effectively control and relieve the pressure on our nation's environment and resources and strengthen our nation's capability to sustain development." The Reach of the One-Child Policy Despite the sense of urgency, the implementation of such |
a large-scale family planning program proved difficult to control, especially as directives and regulations were passed on to lower levels. In 1981, the State Council's Leading Group for Birth Planning was transformed into the State Population and Family Planning Commission. |
This allowed for the establishment of organizational arrangements to help turn the one-child campaign into a professional state family planning mechanism. Birth-planning bureaus were set up in all counties to manage the directives handed down from the central government. Documentation |
on how the policy was implemented and received by the population varies from area to area. There are accounts of heavy sanctions for non-compliance, including the doubling of health insurance and long-term income deductions as well as forced abortions and |
sterilizations. Peasant families offered the most significant opposition; rural families with only one daughter often insisted that they be given the right to have a second child, in hopes of producing a son. On the other hand, in some regions |
married couples submitted written commitments to the birth-planning bureaus stating they would respect the one-child policy. Despite this variation, it is commonly accepted that preferential treatment in public services (education, health, and housing) was normally given to one-child families. Parents |
abiding by the one-child policy often obtained monthly bonuses, usually paid until the child reached the age of 14. Especially in urban areas it has become commonplace for couples to willingly limit themselves to one child. Cities like Shanghai have |
recently eased the restrictions so that divorcees who remarry may have a second child, but there, as well as in Beijing and elsewhere, a second child is considered a luxury for many middle-class couples. In addition to the cost of |
food and clothing, educational expenses weigh heavily: As in many other countries, parents' desire to boost their children's odds of entering the top universities dictates the best available education from the beginning-and that is not cheap. The end of free |
schooling in China-another recent landmark-may prove to be an even more effective tool for restricting population growth than any family planning policy. Interestingly, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that Chinese students who manage to obtain a university education abroad |
often marry foreigners and end up having more than one child; when they return to China with a foreign spouse and passport they are exempt from the one-child policy. There are other exceptions as well-it is rumored that couples in |
which both members are only children will be permitted to have two children of their own, for instance-and it is clear that during the policy's existence it has not been applied even-handedly to all. Chinese national minorities have consistently been |
subject to less restrictive birth planning. There also appears to have been a greater concentration of family planning efforts in urban centers than in rural areas. By early 1980, policy demanded that 95 percent of urban women and 90 percent |
of rural women be allowed only one child. In the December 1982 revision of the Chinese constitution, the commitment to population control was strengthened by including birth planning among citizens' responsibilities as well as among the tasks of lower level |
civil administrators. It is a common belief among many Chinese scholars who support the one-child policy that if population is not effectively controlled the pressures it imposes on the environment will not be relieved even if the economy grows. More |
Services, Fewer Sanctions Over time, Chinese population policy appears to have evolved toward a more service-based approach consistent with the consensus developed at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. According to Ru Xiao-mei of the State |
Population and Family Planning Commission, "We are no longer preaching population control. Instead, we are emphasizing quality of care and better meeting the needs of clients." Family planning clinics across the country are giving women and men wider access to |
contraceptive methods, including condoms and birth-control pills, thereby going beyond the more traditional use of intrauterine devices and/or sterilization after the birth of the first child. The Commission is also banking on the improved use of counseling to help keep |
fertility rates down. Within China, one of the most prevalent criticisms of the one-child policy has been its implications for social security, particularly old-age support. One leading scholar envisions a scenario in which one grandchild must support two parents and |
four grandparents (the 4-2-1 constellation). This development is a grave concern for Chinese policymakers (as in other countries where aging populations stand to place a heavy burden on social security infrastructures as well as the generations now working to support |
them). A related concern, especially in rural China where there is a lack of appropriate pension systems and among families whose only child is a daughter, is that it is sons who have traditionally supported parents in old age. The |
one-child policy and the preference for sons has also widened the ratio of males to females, raising alarms as the first children born into the one-child generation approach marriage age. The disparity is aggravated by modern ultrasound technology, which enables |
couples to abort female fetuses in hopes that the next pregnancy produces a son; although this practice is illegal, it remains in use. The 2000 census put the sex ratio at 117 boys to 100 girls, and according to The |
Guardian newspaper, China may have as many as 40 million single men by 2020. (There are several countries where the disparity is even greater. The UN Population Fund reports that countries such as Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United |
Arab Emirates have male-to-female ratios ranging between 116:100 and 186:100.) However, the traditional Chinese preference for sons may be on the decline. Dr. Zhang Rong Zhou of the Shanghai Population Information Center has argued that the preference for boys is |
weakening among the younger generation, in Shanghai at least, in part because girls cost less and are easier to raise. The sex ratio in Shanghai accordingly stands at 105 boys to every 100 girls, which is the international average. Shanghai |
has distinguished itself over the past 25 years as one of the first urban centers to adopt the one-child policy, and it promises to be a pioneer in gradually relaxing the restrictions in the years to come. Shanghai was the |
first region in China to have negative fertility growth; 2000 census data indicated that the rate of natural increase was -0.9 per 1,000. A major concern remains that as the birth rate drops a smaller pool of young workers will |
be left to support a large population of retirees. Shanghai's decision to allow divorced Chinese who remarry to have a second child is taking advantage of the central government's policy, which lets local governments decide how to apply the one-child |
rule. Although Shanghai has devoted much effort to implementing the one-child policy over the past 25 years, the city is now allowing qualifying couples to explore the luxury of having a second child. This is a response to rising incomes |
(GDP has grown about 7 percent per year over the past 20 years) and divorce rates. As noted above, however, many couples, although often better off then their parents, remain hesitant to have more than one child because of the |
expense. The first generation of only children in China is approaching parenthood accustomed to a level of economic wealth and spending power-and thus often to lifestyles-that previous generations could not even have imagined. However, China also faces a rapidly aging |
population. In the larger scheme of things, this may be the true test of the government's ability to provide for its citizens. The fate of China's family planning strategy-in a context in which social security is no longer provided by |
family members alone but by a network of government and/or private services-may be decided by the tension between the cost of children and the cost of the elderly. There seems little doubt, however, that family planning will be a key |
element of Chinese policymaking for many years to come. Claudia Meulenberg, a former Worldwatch intern, received her master's degree from the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in May and now works at the Institute for International Mediation |
|First Detailed Look at RNA Dicer| Scientists have gotten their first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that Nature has been using for eons to help silence unwanted genetic messages. A team of researchers with Berkeley Lab |
and the University of California, Berkeley, used x-ray crystallography at ALS Beamlines 8.2.1 and 8.2.2 to determine the crystal structure of Dicer, an enzyme that plays a critical role in a process known as RNA interference. The Dicer enzyme is |
able to snip a double-stranded form of RNA into segments that can attach themselves to genes and block their activity. With this crystal structure, the researchers learned that Dicer serves as a molecular ruler, with a clamp at one end |
and a cleaver at the other end a set distance away, that produces RNA fragments of an ideal size for gene-silencing. RNA—ribonucleic acid—has long been known as a multipurpose biological workhorse, responsible for carrying DNA's genetic messages out from the |
nucleus of a living cell and using those messages to make specific proteins in a cell's cytoplasm. In 1998, however, scientists discovered that RNA can also block the synthesis of proteins from some of those genetic messages. This gene-silencing process |
is called RNA interference and it starts when a double-stranded segment of RNA (dsRNA) encounters the enzyme Dicer. Dicer cleaves dsRNA into smaller fragments called short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). Dicer then helps load these fragments into a |
large multiprotein complex called RISC, for RNA-Induced Silencing Complex. RISC can seek out and capture messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules (the RNA that encodes the message of a gene) with a base sequence complementary to that of its siRNA or miRNA. |
This serves to either destroy the genetic message carried by the mRNA outright or else block the subsequent synthesis of a protein. Until now, it has not been known how Dicer is able to recognize dsRNA and cleave those molecules |
into products with lengths that are exactly what is needed to silence specific genes. The Berkeley researchers were able to purify and crystallize a Dicer enzyme from Giardia intestinalis, a one-celled microscopic parasite that can infect the intestines of humans |
and animals. This Dicer enzyme in Giardia is identical to the core of a Dicer enzyme in higher eukaryotes, including humans, that cleaves dsRNA into lengths of about 25 bases. In this work, the researchers describe a front view of |
the structure as looking like an axe. On the handle end there is a domain that is known to bind to small RNA products, and on the blade end there is a domain that is able to cleave RNA. Between |
the clamp and the cleaver is a flat-surfaced region that carries a positive electrical charge. The researchers propose that this flat region binds to the negatively charged dsRNA like biological Velcro, enabling Dicer to measure out and snip specified lengths |
of siRNA. When you put the clamp, the flat area, and the cleaver together, you get a pretty good idea as to how Dicer works. The research team is now using this structural model to design experiments that might reveal |
what triggers Dicer into action. In addition, one size does not fit all for Dicer: different forms of the Dicer enzyme are known to produce different lengths of siRNA, ranging from 21 to 30 base pairs in length or longer. |
Having identified the flat-surfaced positively charged region in Dicer as the "ruler" portion of the enzyme, the researchers speculate that it may be possible to alter the length of a long connector helix within this domain to change the lengths |
of the resulting siRNA products. The researchers would like to see what happens when you take a natural Dicer and change the length of its helix. Research conducted by I.J. MacRae and K. Zhou (University of California, Berkeley, and Howard |
Hughes Medical Institute); F. Li, A. Repic, A.N. Brooks, and W.Z. Cande (University of California, Berkeley); P.D. Adams (Berkeley Lab); and J.A. Doudna (University of California, Berkeley, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Berkeley Lab). Research funding: National Institutes of Health. |
Operation of the ALS is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Publication about this research: I.J. MacRae, K. Zhou, F. Li, A. Repic, A.N. Brooks, W.Z. Cande, P.D. Adams, and J.A. Doudna, "Structural basis |
Tonight will be one of the best chances to see comet Panstarrs as it passes 28 million miles from the sun and over 100 million miles from earth. Despite the distance, if you are patient and find a good spot to view after sunset, you should be able to see Panstarrs near the horizon just after sunset at 6:55 tonight. To ... |
it may look like a fuzzy star, but if you have a set of binoculars, you should be able to make out the tail. Here is a graph showing the position of Panstarrs during the coming week. Chart courtesy: Space.com On the weather side of things, skies will be clear tonight at 6:55 p.m. sunset, but we will be dodging clouds o... |
" Comet Pan-STARRS, which has the official designation C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), was discovered in June 2011 by astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (or PANSTARRS) telescope in Hawaii. The comet made its way into the inner solar system from the Oort cloud — a group of icy bodies orbit... |
orbit of Neptune out to a distance of 93 trillion miles." If you don't get to see Panstarrs, you'll have another chance to see comet Oort Cloud in late November. This comet promises to be one of the brightest in at least 30 years. We'll have more on that on the blog closer to November. In the meantime, bundle up, get y... |
head out tonight to see Panstarrs. If you are able to photograph it, you can share your pictures here on 14news.com or on the 14News Facebook page or the 14First Alert Facebook page. 1115 Mt. Auburn Road Closed Captioning Contact: |
Paradnaja lestnitza doma Tolstykh Overview and History Odessa is the largest city on the coastline of the Black Sea and was once the third largest city in Russia, after Moscow and St. Petersburg. Her nicknames are "the Pearl of the Black Sea", "Odessa Mama" and "Southern Palmira." The name probably |
comes from the earliest recorded inhabitants, a Greek colony called Odessos which disappeared around the fourth century AD. Here's a lightning overview of Odessa's rulers, from the beginning. First there were the ancient Greeks, then miscellaneous nomadic tribes, the Golden Horde of Mongolia, the Grand Duchy of Lithuan... |
Khanate, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, the U.S.S.R, and finally Ukrainian independence in 1991. The founding of the first city in this location dates to 1240 AD and is credited to a Turkish Tatar named Hacibey Khan. Its name at that time was Khadjibey. The first fortress was built |
in the fourteenth century, when Odessa was already becoming a major trading center. The fortress served to protect the harbor. Khadjibey became part of the Ottoman Empire in the early sixteenth century. Its fortress was rebuilt by the Ottomans and named Yeni Dunya, around 1764 AD. The eighteenth century saw |
Odessa change hands from Turkish to Russian control. Russia captured Odessa in 1789 under the command of Jose de Ribas, a Spaniard who became a Russian admiral and played a major part in the victory. Jose de Ribas gets the credit for founding the modern city of Odessa -- his |
name is remembered in the most prominent street through the heart of Odessa -- Deribasovskaya Street. In the treaty of Jassy in 1792, Turkey gave over control of a wide swath of land encompassing modern-day Ukraine and Odessa. The city was rebuilt to be a fort, commercial port and naval |
base. During the nineteenth century Odessa attracted immigrants from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia and all over Europe, enjoying its status as a free port. Odessa was bombed by British and French weaponry during the Crimean War of the 1850's. After the destruction was repaired, a railroad joined Odessa to Kiev |
in 1866 and the city rapidly developed as the main export center for grain production. It became a center of Ukranian nationalism at the turn of the 20th century and in 1905 Odessa was the scene of a worker's uprising, led by sailors from the battleship Potemkin. During the uprising |
hundreds of citizens were murdered on the staircase that has come to be called "the Potemkin Steps." During WWI Odessa was bombarded by the Turkish fleet and after the Bolshevik Revolution the city was occupied by the Central Powers, the French and the Red Army. In 1922 Odessa was unified |
with the Ukranian Soviet Socialist Republic. There was terrible suffering in the famine which took place after the Russian revolution in 1921. Odessa was taken by German forces in 1941, and almost 300,00 civilians were killed. It remained under Romanian administration during WWII until its liberation by the Soviet Army |
in 1944. The city went through another rapid growth period after WWII, with industries of ship-building, oil refineries and chemical processing. The city became part of newly-independent Ukraine in 1991 after the fall of communism. By air, the International Airport of Odessa is where you'll arrive and it's linked to |
the city by buses. Passenger ships from Istanbul, Haifa and Varna connect with the port. The Marine terminal is at the bottom of the Potemkin steps. When you get to the top you'll be greeted by the Duke of Richelieu, one of the city's founding fathers. This staircase also forms |
an optical illusion; looking down from the top, the steps are invisible and the side walls of the staircase appear to run parallel. Don't be fooled. The main railway station is in the southern part of the city and it's connected with trams and buses, as usual, to get you |
around. People and Culture Things to do, Recommendations The Opera House is the oldest and most famous in Odessa, built in 1810 with rich decorative rococo style. Here's a look at the Opera Theater at night. The Palais-Royal is adjoined to the Opera Theater and is also worth a trip |
to see. On the "must-see" list, Deribasovskaya Street is the very heart of Odessa. Its unique character lasted even when adherence to Soviet-design styles was strictly promoted -- so here you can find amazing architecture, outdoor cafes and restaurants, cobblestone streets and no vehicle traffic. Here's a look in the |
Passage shopping mall and hotel in the city center, a cool place to walk around. Visit the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, the largest Orthodox Church in the city. It's been newly reconstructed after its destruction by Bolsheviks in the 1930's. Architectural curiosities: go and find the one-wall building when you run o... |
of things to do. This would be first on my list, actually. Here's another mixup of architectural styles to have a look at. Finally, go and visit Empress Ekaterina, one of the main founders the city, at her monument. Text by Steve Smith. |
[Author's note: Although I am employed by the Japanese American National Museum, this article should not be construed as coming from the National Museum. Instead, this article is my personal opinion and should be taken as such.] Over the last month, I have posted articles about my grandfather and what |
happened to him during the Second World War. Much of my grandfather’s story was not unique. Approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans were illegally incarcerated during the war, their only crime was looking like the enemy. The majority of those incarcerated were American citizens. When most people refer to where the Jap... |
American were held, they use the term: internment camp. But the term is not only inaccurate but also hides what they really were: concentration camps. Before you get angry or offended, let me explain. According to the Merrian Webster dictionary, a concentration camp is “a camp where persons (as prisoners |
of war, political prisoners, or refugees) are detained or confined.” The definition of a concentration camp describes exactly what happened to the Japanese Americans during WWII, where they were political prisoners confined in a camp. One of the reasons people are reluctant to use the term is because they don’t |
want to imply what happened in the United States was similar to what happened to Jews and others in Europe. But I believe what happened in Europe was not a concentration camp but much much worse. A more accurate term would be “death camp,” because the main purpose of the |
European camps was to torture and kill its prisoners. In the book, Common Ground: the Japanese American National Museum and the Culture of Collaborations, the Museum curators addressed this debate: A “concentration camp” is a place where people are imprisoned not because of any crimes they committed, but simply because |
of who they are. Although many groups have been singled out for such persecution throughout history, the term “concentration camp” was first used at the turn of the century in the Spanish American and Boer Wars. During World War II, America’s concentration camps were clearly distinguishable from Nazi Germany’s. Nazi |
camps were places of torture, barbarous medical experiments and summary executions: some were extermination centers with gas chambers. Six million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust. Many others, including Gypsies, Poles, homosexuals and political dissidents were also victims of the Nazi concentration camps. In rec... |
in the former Soviet Union, Cambodia and Bosnia. Despite differences, all had one thing in common: the people in power removed a minority group from the general population and the rest of society let it happen. It should be noted that United States government and military officials (including the President) |
often referred to these places as concentration camps. It is also important to note that not all Japanese Americans agree with the use of the term. Some Japanese Americans would prefer to use the government terminology. Although I disagree with them, it is their right to do so. If concentration |
camps is the historically most accurate term, is saying interment camp wrong? Yes, because internment camp is a euphemism. According to the Merrian Webster dictionary, a euphemism is “the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.” A good example of a |
euphemism is saying someone was “eliminated” versus “killed.” Think it doesn’t make a difference? What images are evoked when you hear concentration camp versus when you hear internment camp? Internment seems benign at worst while concentration camp is always construed negatively. That difference is intentional. Mako N... |
and Japanese American activist, spoke about the negative effects of the euphemism on the general perception of the World War II experiences of Japanese Americans in an interview with the Nichi Bei, a Japanese American newspaper: Government-created euphemistic language led to some people actually believing that the Japa... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.