There's another serious demographic aspect that is not well-known outside China...
During the one-child policy, many couples were getting prenatal gender identified and there was an extraordinary rate of abortion of female fetuses. When a female was born, the baby would often be given away or put up for overseas adoption or, even worse, n some remote areas, baby girls were killed or abandoned. China had to keep this from the rest of the world, but it was known by many "overseas Chinese" (ethnic Chinese living outside China).
Now they're paying for it, though... There is a considerable off-balance of men to women more in China and, as a result, many men are literally negotiating with women to marry them, with the women asking for literal "reverse dowries" to be paid by the men. There are also stories of women not wanting children unless their husbands (or husbands-to-be) make it advantageous financially to do so. This endangers the social structure tremendously...bottom line: as you pointed out in this article, China is in trouble.
I know many Asian countries are as interested in immigration as Europe or the Americas. Be interesting to see countries with significant population decline to offer opportunities to African nationals with very high population opportunities to consider relocating so there’s greater balance. I also know South Korea is improving Seoul’s train network so suburbanites can take faster trains from their homes into the city in hopes of getting time back in people’s day to be with family in hopes of curtailing their depopulation-which is an interesting way of looking at the problem (especially in terms of Asian work culture)
A Declaration for a Second Enlightenment: On Rebalancing Civilizational Survival and Individual Liberty
I fully understand and endorse the pursuit of equality and freedom—the most precious legacy of the Enlightenment. Yet, this light also cast shadows, with pioneers like Rousseau and Kant themselves warning of the limits of reason and the perils of social decay.
We now face an ultimate contradiction they could not have foreseen: our civilization, built on encouraging boundless individual liberation, is systematically undermining its own demographic foundation.
If we fail to solve the problem of a fertility rate persistently below the replacement level of 2.1, then every freedom, every right, and every form of equality we cherish will ultimately vanish with the slow demise of our civilization.
Therefore, I call for a "Second Enlightenment." Its aim is not to negate the achievements of the first, but to solve this fatal flaw it has revealed. We must confront the reality that, on the current path, a form of feminist orthodoxy has become entrenched, creating a staggering 100:1 disparity in academic research output compared to studies on men's issues. This theoretical monopoly directly biases policy-making, thereby deepening the structural dilemmas facing men and creating new forms of injustice.
Let me be unequivocal: my stance is against all forms of exploitation, oppression, and bullying. Regimes like the Taliban, which brutally oppress women, children, and men, represent a betrayal of civilization and a darkness I firmly reject. Yet, a civilization that withers away due to internal imbalance, no matter how noble its ideals, has no future.
We stand at an unprecedented crossroads. One path leads to a modern civilization that cannot sustain itself; the other leads back to obscurantist regression.
I hereby invite all fellow travelers who keep the ember of civilization alive to join in designing a new path—one that safeguards individual liberty while ensuring our civilization can endure and flourish.
There's another serious demographic aspect that is not well-known outside China...
During the one-child policy, many couples were getting prenatal gender identified and there was an extraordinary rate of abortion of female fetuses. When a female was born, the baby would often be given away or put up for overseas adoption or, even worse, n some remote areas, baby girls were killed or abandoned. China had to keep this from the rest of the world, but it was known by many "overseas Chinese" (ethnic Chinese living outside China).
Now they're paying for it, though... There is a considerable off-balance of men to women more in China and, as a result, many men are literally negotiating with women to marry them, with the women asking for literal "reverse dowries" to be paid by the men. There are also stories of women not wanting children unless their husbands (or husbands-to-be) make it advantageous financially to do so. This endangers the social structure tremendously...bottom line: as you pointed out in this article, China is in trouble.
I know many Asian countries are as interested in immigration as Europe or the Americas. Be interesting to see countries with significant population decline to offer opportunities to African nationals with very high population opportunities to consider relocating so there’s greater balance. I also know South Korea is improving Seoul’s train network so suburbanites can take faster trains from their homes into the city in hopes of getting time back in people’s day to be with family in hopes of curtailing their depopulation-which is an interesting way of looking at the problem (especially in terms of Asian work culture)
A Declaration for a Second Enlightenment: On Rebalancing Civilizational Survival and Individual Liberty
I fully understand and endorse the pursuit of equality and freedom—the most precious legacy of the Enlightenment. Yet, this light also cast shadows, with pioneers like Rousseau and Kant themselves warning of the limits of reason and the perils of social decay.
We now face an ultimate contradiction they could not have foreseen: our civilization, built on encouraging boundless individual liberation, is systematically undermining its own demographic foundation.
If we fail to solve the problem of a fertility rate persistently below the replacement level of 2.1, then every freedom, every right, and every form of equality we cherish will ultimately vanish with the slow demise of our civilization.
Therefore, I call for a "Second Enlightenment." Its aim is not to negate the achievements of the first, but to solve this fatal flaw it has revealed. We must confront the reality that, on the current path, a form of feminist orthodoxy has become entrenched, creating a staggering 100:1 disparity in academic research output compared to studies on men's issues. This theoretical monopoly directly biases policy-making, thereby deepening the structural dilemmas facing men and creating new forms of injustice.
Let me be unequivocal: my stance is against all forms of exploitation, oppression, and bullying. Regimes like the Taliban, which brutally oppress women, children, and men, represent a betrayal of civilization and a darkness I firmly reject. Yet, a civilization that withers away due to internal imbalance, no matter how noble its ideals, has no future.
We stand at an unprecedented crossroads. One path leads to a modern civilization that cannot sustain itself; the other leads back to obscurantist regression.
I hereby invite all fellow travelers who keep the ember of civilization alive to join in designing a new path—one that safeguards individual liberty while ensuring our civilization can endure and flourish.