You thought having only one child was bad? Try having only one dog

I must being today's post by noting that I have spent much of this morning getting caught up on my Bugle podcasts, which rather hinders me in my ability to take any political/IR goings-on quite seriously. For those unaware, The Bugle is an absolutely marvelous weekly satirical news podcast hosted by John Oliver (from The Daily Show) and Andy Zaltzman. Some of the humor is quite English, what with references to rugby and cricket and the like, but it is nevertheless absolutely amazing and certainly worthy of your attention.

All that being said, I appear to be finding the humor in just about everything this morning, and thus cannot help but draw this to your attention:

For decades, most Chinese residents of the southern city of Guangzhou have resigned themselves to the country's strict one-child policy. Now, a similar restriction on dogs has got them howling mad.

[...] On July 1, city authorities implemented the "one-dog policy" seen as a crackdown on the estimated 100,000 unregistered dogs in Guangzhou ahead of the Asian Games in the city next year...

The hits just keep on coming, don't they? Not only are Chinese families restricted in the number of children they can have - with severe repercussions for families who 'illegally' have more than one - but now their pet-keeping habits are also squarely under the auspices of the CCP! Evidently the reach of the government continues to run deep in China - from bedroom to kennel.

According to Chinese authorities, this so-called "one dog policy" is aimed at curtailing the spread of rabies across China. The CCP must really be running short on inspiration, however, as this is the very same excuse that was used in 2006 when the policy was implemented in Beijing. Well, three years and the slaughter of hundreds of dogs hasn't done the trick, so let's have another go at it. What logic! At least do try to mix it up a bit, guys. Surely there must be a 'Creative Propaganda Bureau' lodged in the government apparatus somewhere...

Oh, China, you never cease to amuse me.

China’s gender imbalance

In Monday's Vox column Esther Duflo observes that the ramifications of China's One Child policy are steadily beginning to be felt

Among 16-25 year olds today, there are nearly 110 boys for every 100 girls. Boys are having trouble getting married. And young men, particularly single ones, have more behavioural problems and commit more crimes than young women … Since 1998, the number of crimes has risen 13% per year on average. Seventy percent of criminals arrested are between 16 and 25 years old, and 90% are male

Concerns a that such a demographic imbalance may result in violence, economic crisis, an imminent rise of prostitution, and kidnapping are also beginning to surface. Unfortunately, it could take some fifteen years before this imbalance rights itself, likely more given that the CCP intends to continue the policy for at least another decade, with few modifications.