One child policy

When making conversation with Chinese, one question we might normally ask is not very polite. You will be met with an embarrassed silence.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Since 1979 the Government has dissuaded people from more having more than one child through hefty fines, pressure to abort, and denial of benefits. Even forced sterilisations. This has resulted in new generations of incredibly spoilt,(mainly) boys. Known as "Little Emperors" they have little opportunity to learn about sharing and co-operating.

The rule, recently extended to at least 2010, has been estimated to have reduced population growth in the country of 1.3 billion by as much as 300 million people over its first twenty years. Source.