ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

One child policy

Imagine you have a toy collection with too many toys. You want to make sure you take good care of each toy, so you decide to limit the number of toys you have. You tell yourself that you will only have one toy at a time, and when you're done with it, you can get a new one. This way, you can give each toy the care and attention it deserves.

This is kind of like what the one-child policy is in China. China is a country with a lot of people, so the government decided to limit the number of babies families can have. They said that each family can only have one child, and if they have more than one, they will have to pay a fine or face other consequences. This way, the government can make sure that each child gets the care and attention they need.

But why did they do this? China is a big country, but it has a lot of people, and some people worry that there aren't enough resources to go around. Resources like food, water, and land can get spread thin when there are too many people. So the government thought that limiting the number of children would help to reduce the strain on these resources.

However, not everyone agreed with this policy. Some families really wanted more than one child, and it was hard for them to follow the rules. In some cases, families had to make difficult choices and decide whether to pay the fine or try to hide their extra children. As a result, the government changed the policy in recent years, and now families can have two children if they want.

So, in summary, the one-child policy was a rule in China that said families could only have one child. This was meant to help make sure that each child gets the care and attention they needed and to reduce the strain on resources in the country. However, some families disagreed with the policy and had a hard time following the rules, so the government has since made changes to allow families to have two children.