China ends its one child policy, now allows two children

China has ended its one-child policy and will allow all couples to have two children. Since 1979, Chinese couples have only been allowed to have one child, due to a government effort to control the population growth rate. It is estimated that the policy, which penalized couples who violated it with fees, forced abortions and infanticide, has prevented roughly 400 million birthday. The one- child policy was imposed by Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader in late 1979.