Shadowing Practice: Why China's population is shrinking - Learn English Speaking with Video
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This chart shows
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China's birth and death rate over the last 60 years.
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For most of it, births are high.
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But in 2022, China had more deaths than births, causing its population to decrease for the first time in six decades.
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To get why this is such a big deal, consider this.
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China is the world's manufacturing superpower, and that's in large part because of its huge population.
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Nearly 30 % of the country's economic output comes from manufacturing.
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Now here's China's population over the last 60 years.
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Even after losing almost a million people in 2022, its population is still about as big as it's ever been — 1 .4 billion people.
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But that's projected to shrink by nearly half by the end of the century.
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Over the years, China's growth and policies have contributed to its population decline.
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Today, it's looking to reverse course, to keep its population steady.
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The problem is, it might be too late.
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In the 50s under Mao, China experienced one of the most gruesome famines on record.
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30 million people died.
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If we look at that on the birth and death rates chart, you'll see a big spike in deaths.
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At the same time, the birth rate dropped, causing the population to shrink.
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But as often happens with wars, famines and other major crises, immediately after, there was a baby boom.
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Combined with global medical advances that decreased infant mortality rates, China's average family now had six children.
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The birth rate had skyrocketed, which the government saw as a big problem.
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The Chinese leadership realized the population was growing too fast and something needs to be done.
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The government came out with a policy.
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They called it later, longer, fewer.
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Later marriages, longer birth intervals, and fewer births.
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As a result, China's birth rate started trending down.
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But it wasn't low enough for China's leaders.
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And in 1980, they implemented the extreme one -child policy, which limited most families to one child.
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That policy was also backed up by very harsh measures.
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There were campaigns of sterilization, IOD insertion, and induced abortions.
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And while these campaigns began during the later longer -fewer era, they were at their worst under the one -child policy,
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when China sterilized 20 million men and women and induced nearly 15 million abortions in a single year.
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But China had accomplished its goal.
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Population growth was under control.
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Except, as China would soon realize, these restrictive policies worked a little too well.
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In order for any population to stay the same size in the long run, each couple needs to have, on average, 2 .1 children.
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This is called the replacement rate.
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The idea is that one child replaces one parent, and that 0 .1 makes up for children who die before they become adults.
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But China has had a fertility rate that's far below two for over three decades.
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To bring that up, in 2016, China finally ended the one -child policy.
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And after briefly trying out a three -child policy, in 2021, they finally let families have as many children as they'd like.
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But it hasn't worked.
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One big reason is the unique family structure produced by the one -child policy.
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We're looking at what's called a 4 -to -1 family structure with a couple having four parents above them
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and one child below.
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Most countries have diverse family structures, some with three kids, others with none.
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But with China's 4 -to -1 model, millions of only children are under increasing pressure to care for their aging parents and elderly grandparents.
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And this can make having multiple children even harder, especially as the cost of living keeps rising.
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A recent survey revealed
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that more than 50 % of young people don't want more than one child because of financial and work pressures.
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We've seen cash subsidies for additional birth, longer maternal leaves, subsidizes for kindergarten,
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and all sorts of monetary support.
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Well, the thing is, almost none of them has worked because having a child is exceedingly expensive and it's a lifelong commitment.
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And so it's not — it's really actually hard to put a price on this.
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But China's population crisis isn't just about babies.
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It's also about the balance between young and old.
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If we look at population pyramids that show distribution by age, we see that countries like Kenya, with rapid population growth, look like this.
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Wide at the bottom, representing a lot of new young people, and narrow at the top.
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Countries experiencing slower growth, like the Philippines, are still triangular, but the difference between top and bottom is less pronounced.
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Now take a look at China and notice the narrow bottom, so fewer babies, and the heavy top, a larger number of elderly people.
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Which is happy.
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outcome of our improvement in health and in standard of living,
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but combined with sustained low fertility and that just produces sustained population aging.
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In 2050, that pyramid is projected to look like this.
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And that will further drive down
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China's population, shrink its labor force, and put the whole country in a uniquely difficult position.
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In the 80s, China became a hotspot for foreign investment, cheap manufacturing and exports.
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A generation later, it was shooting up the ranks and becoming one of the world's leading and fastest growing economies by GDP.
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But not only did that economic modernization drive birth rates down further, it also didn't translate to an equally strong economy for everyone.
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If we look at the GDP per capita, the best indicator we have for standard of living, China is much lower than these high -income countries.
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China became a major world economy nearly overnight, but it's still a middle -income country.
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Many, especially in rural areas, haven't benefited much from China's economic boom.
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And China has yet to develop the necessary safety nets to support its aging population.
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To build the social infrastructure,
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like the social programs in health care and in pension, It takes time.
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And that's getting actually tougher with the economy that's slowing down.
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And a slower economy will inevitably redefine
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China's role in the world as a manufacturing superpower.
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What this means for China,
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for the world, is that the resource constraints from within would also constrain the Chinese ambition and its global reach.
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In some ways, China isn't alone.
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A lot of Asian and European countries are experiencing population declines, too.
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What makes China different is how fast this all has happened.
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It was only 40 years ago that
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China started leveraging its booming population to become an economic superpower, all while still trying to stem population growth.
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Now that China's population growth is officially over, China may have to rethink its future, not just as a global superpower,
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but for its citizens at home, too.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Why China's population is shrinking”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: population, China, birth, rate, policy. This video has 87 sentences and 1091 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:22. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fewer | /ˈfjuː.ɚ/ | Less; a smaller amount of something non-integral commonly expressed as an integer |
| boom verb | /bum/ | To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound. |
| chart noun | /t͡ʃɑɹt/ | A map illustrating the geography of a specific phenomenon. |
| decline verb | /dɪˈklaɪn/ | To move downwards, to fall, to drop. |
| narrow adjective | /ˈnæɹəʊ/ | Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth. |
| abortion noun | /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/ | A spontaneous abortion; a miscarriage. |
| decrease verb | /dɪˈkɹiːs/ | Of a quantity, to become smaller. |
| elderly adjective | /ˈɛldɚli/ | old; having lived for relatively many years. |
| combine verb | /kəmˈbaɪn/ | To bring (two or more things or activities) together; to unite. |
| sustain verb | /səˈsteɪn/ | To maintain, or keep in existence. |
| fertility noun | /fɝˈtɪləti/ | The condition, or the degree, of being fertile. |
| pyramid noun | /ˈpɪɹ.ə.mɪd/ | An ancient massive construction with a square or rectangular base and four triangular sides meeting in an apex, such as those built as tombs in Egypt or as… |
| famine noun | /ˈfæm.ɪn/ | Extreme shortage of food in a region. |
| induce verb | /ɪnˈduːs/ | To lead by persuasion or influence; incite or prevail upon. |
| subsidy noun | /ˈsʌbsɪdi/ | Financial support or assistance, such as a grant. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| back up verb | To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so. |
| come out with verb | To say (something) unexpectedly. |
| drive down verb | To cause or force a price, quantity, rate, etc. to decrease. |
| slow down verb | To decelerate. |
| try out verb | To test (something) to see how it works or whether it is suitable. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | it's ever been · have contributed · has had |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be done · was also backed · is called |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, didn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: abortion /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/, pension /ˈpɛnʃən/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, ambition /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/
- Long words — get the stress right: fertility /fɝˈtɪləti/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, monetary /ˈmʌnɪtəɹi/, indicator /ˈɪn.dɪˌkeɪ.tə(ɹ)/, inevitably /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like fewer, boom, chart.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.