China is a nation full of only children who are doted upon by their parents. The nation adopted a one-child policy in 1979 in an effort to keep overpopulation at bay. The notion of eliminating the one-child policy has been discussed (for more on that, see my previous post China May Eliminate One-Child Policy).

But now, in the wake of the May 12 earthquake in which thousands of children died, the one-child policy has been lifted--partially.

"Thousands of parents have openly challenged the government over why so many schools collapsed during the earthquake," according to the New York Times.

Parents of children who were killed or seriously injured in the earthquake are now exempt from the one-child policy, and can apply for legal permission to have another child, according to the Associated Press.

"The committee announced Monday that if a couple’s legally born child was killed in the earthquake, an illegal child under 18 years could be registered as a legal replacement. If the dead child was illegal, it said the family would no longer be responsible for outstanding fines, although parents would not be reimbursed for penalties already paid," according to the New York Times.

"Zhongxin Sun, a sociology professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said some mothers may be too old to conceive; others may have undergone sterilization. 'To lose a child is to lose everything for Chinese parents,' said Professor Sun, who is a visiting scholar at Yale University Law School. 'A child is their only hope,'" according to the New York Times.

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Wages in China are skyrocketing thanks to labor shortages. "Last year salaries surged 40%, to an average of $160 a month," according to BusinessWeek.

In addition to increasing salaries, turnover is sky-high, too; BusinessWeek reported that "turnover in some low-tech industries approaches 50%, according to the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a Shenzhen labor research group."

One company "has upgraded its dormitories and improved the food in the company cafeteria. Despite those efforts, its five factories remain about 10% shy of the 6,000 employees they need," according to BusinessWeek.

There is a shortage of qualified workers in provinces all across China.

"Although the total labor force is about 800 million, relatively few people have the qualifications employers want. For most textile, toy, and tech-assembly jobs, for example, export-oriented manufacturers prefer women from 18 to 25 years old or people with experience operating machinery," according to BusinessWeek.

"Reports of labor shortages first cropped up in late 2004, but companies thought the phenomenon was temporary. Now a surge in both turnover and wage costs is convincing multinationals and their suppliers that the China game is changing permanently," according to BusinessWeek.

While increased productivity has, to some degree, offset rising wages, those productivity increases are getting fewer in number.

Some companies are retreating to China's interior, where land and wages are both cheaper than they are in the major cities on China's coast. But costs are sure to rise there, too, and some companies will simply find themselves squeezed out of the country.

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China has undergone countless changes to prove its prosperity and modernity leading up to this year's Beijing Olympic Games, which begin in August.

"China, worried about an ageing population, is studying scrapping its controversial one-child policy but will not do away with family-planning policies altogether, a senior official said on Thursday," according to Reuters.

China's current one-child policy, which was put in place in 1979, was intended to alleviate overpopulation as well as the resulting environmental problems. The one-child rule is typically relaxed for rural families, especially if their first child is a daughter. Many large Chinese cities allow two individuals who are only children to have more than one child together. And some families opt to ignore the policy and simply pay the fines put in place for those who have more than one child.

"China says its policies have prevented several hundred million births and boosted prosperity, but experts have warned of a looming social time-bomb from an ageing population and widening gender disparity stemming from a traditional preference for boys," according to the article. "Normally, between 103 and 107 boys are born for every 100 girl infants, but in China, 118 boys are born for every 100 girls." This disparity is likely because of China's traditional preference for sons rather than daughters.

This could lead to myriad social problems in the future. Women will likely bear the brunt of these problems. But if China's already large population were to start increasing at an uncontrolled pace, the entire population could suffer.

"Teams studying the issue would have to consider the strain of China's huge population on its scarce resources, popular attitudes, and how much of a social net China can afford to provide without the traditional reliance on large families to care for the aged," according to the article. "Surveys show that 60 percent of Chinese younger than 30 want a maximum of two children."

China is already in the midst of transforming everything from its culture to its economy as it aims for superpower status. A shift this big is something to keep an eye on--it won't just be felt in China, it will be felt all over the world.

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