As the Birth Rate Issue Emerges in China, CNN’s Recent Report May Shine Light on a New Vision of Politics

An article, “China records first population decline in 60 years”, elucidates the declining birth rate issue that had occurred in 2022 in China. Imposed policies such as policy on the number of children per family are also shown. Moreover, decreasing working population and economic consequences are illustrated. The article successfully encourages readers to understand the need for better political solutions for China's demographic crisis, yet can be challenging to people who are not familiar with the issue.

Structure
The structure of the article consists of three sections: introduction, “Policy solution?”, and “Economic slowdown”. The introduction is effective as a hook, providing the readers with shocking facts about birth rates that are not commonly known. Having an effective and appealing hook makes the readers focused on the topic of the birth rate, empathizing with the author’s concerns on policies.

Moreover, the most significant part “Economic slowdown” at the end provokes readers to remember and extend their thoughts about the seriousness afterward. The two main sections have clear subheadings that indicate shifts in the main topic of the writing, too.

However, as each section is very independent with clear topics, having brief conclusions or transitions will help the readers to process their thoughts without confusion. For example, if policy problems were discussed shortly again in economic problem parts, it would have been easier for readers to understand naturally that better political solutions are needed, achieving the purpose of the author.

Context and language
The writing are more effective by consisting of less personal evaluations as readers are able to decide more objectively. For instance, the statistics are presented without any value judgments or personal preferences. This is shown when the author explains the birth rate issue: “The population fell in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year”. It is the reader's choice to decide whether or not the birth rate crisis is severe. On the other hand, the author sometimes uses adjectives to give guidelines on how to decide. For example, the decrease in birth rate is described as a “key” concern of officials. The adjective “key”, a subjective word, hints to the readers that the issue is serious. The article accomplishes the goal of informing the severity of China’s situation to the readers because highlighting opinions for important points while being objective for most of the writing makes the article more persuasive.


China’s birth rate is decreasing drastically recently. C. Textor for Statista.
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However, the lack of contextual information can lead to confusion and weaken the point for readers who are not used to the topic of birth rate and policies. Most evidence has no background information and context that helps the readers connect the evidence with the topic. For example, the quote “Many young people are choosing to marry later or deciding not to have children altogether” is given without any explanation of the reasons why. This makes the readers confused because they are unable to know which regulations should be developed to solve this problem, not understanding the need for policy changes. Having contextual information would have made the article successful in the purpose of helping readers empathize with the need for better policies for the birth rate crisis.

The article “China records first population decline in 60 years” effectively delivers the severity of the necessity of political improvement for China’s birth rate with clear structure and evidence, but may be too indirect and objective for people who are not familiar with the topic.