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6 - The Rise and Demise of the One Child Policy, 1979–2015

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2023

Sarah Mellors Rodriguez
Affiliation:
Missouri State University
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Summary

Chapter 6 traces the One Child Policy’s lifespan from its introduction in 1979 until its replacement with the Two Child Policy in 2015. I show that the extent to which the One Child Policy was actually enforced and the ways in which it was received differed significantly in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Luoyang. For some couples, particularly those in more economically developed cities like Shanghai and Tianjin, the policy simply affirmed personal convictions that smaller families are more economical and allow children to have better educational opportunities. In smaller cities like Luoyang, however, policy violations were more common as family size – as well as the existence of a male heir – remained more important than the opportunities allocated to those children. This chapter also interrogates the renewed interest in eugenics among parents wishing to “optimize” the qualities of their one and only child, as well as the limited scale and scope of sex education, a trend that exacerbated the reliance on abortion as premarital birth control.

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Chapter
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Reproductive Realities in Modern China
Birth Control and Abortion, 1911–2021
, pp. 167 - 203
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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