Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-495rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-01T08:20:31.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Consequences of China's New Population Policy*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Extract

After several ebbs and flows a new high-tide in population control has been gathering force since 1978. This new birth control campaign has three major features which separate it from earlier ones: consensus as to its desirability among the top leadership, the high priority being awarded to it, and a sense of urgency in achieving results.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Quoted in Muhua, Chen, “Developing population science and making it serve the goal of controlling population growth,” Renkou yanjiu (Population Research), No. 3 (1981), p.1Google Scholar.

2. Shaolun, Huang (Wong Siu-lun), “On Mao Zedong's ideas about population,” Mingbao yuekan [Hong Kong], 12 1980, pp. 2427Google Scholar. See also Tianzheng, Wen, “Comrade Mao Zedong's contribution to Marxist theory on population,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 3 (1981), pp. 811Google Scholar; and Shixun, Gui, “A preliminary inquiry into the population thought on comrade Mao Zedong,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 4 (1981), pp. 1217Google Scholar.

3. See Ruizi, Wang, ”Comprehension in studying comrade Zhou Enlai's proposition on population problems,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 3 (1982), pp. 911Google Scholar.

4. See Chen, Pi-chao, “Population and birth planning in the People's Republic of China,” Population Reports, Series J., No. 25 (1982), p. 589Google Scholar; Aird, J. S., ”Fertility decline in China,” in Eberstadt, N. (ed.), Fertility Decline in The Less Developed Countries (New York: Praeger, 1981), p. 161Google Scholar; Office of Population Research, Beijing College of Economics, Renkou lilun (Population Theory) (Beijing: Commercial Press, 1977), p. 119Google Scholar.

5. See Yinchu, Ma, “New population theory,” Renmin ribao, 5 07 1957Google Scholar; reprinted in a collection of his essays bearing the same title published by Beijing Press in 1979.

6. Muhua, Chen, “Developing population science,” p. 1Google Scholar.

7. Wenruo, Hou, “Population policy,” in Zheng, Liu, Jian, Song et al. , China's Population: Problems and Prospects (Beijing: New World Press, 1981), p. 66Google Scholar.

8. Renmin ribao, 8 March 1978.

9. Renmin ribao, 6 December 1982.

10. Lyle, Katherine Chiu, “China's birth planning: organization since the Cultural Revolution,” Human Organization, Vol. 39, No. 2 (1980), p. 200CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11. Beijing Review, 16 March 1981, p. 6.

12. New China News Agency, Beijing, 25 09 1980Google Scholar.

13. Renmin ribao, 14 February 1982.

14. See Office of Population Research, Renkou lilun, pp. 90–97.

15. Renmin ribao, 11 August 1979.

16. Guofeng, Hua, “Report on government work, first session of the Fifth National People's Congress,” Hongqi, No. 3 (1978), p. 21Google Scholar.

17. Muhua, Chen, “To realize the Four Modernizations, it is necessary to control population increase in a planned way,” Renmin ribao, 11 08 1979Google Scholar.

18. An outline of propaganda for controlling population growth in China,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 2 (1981), p. 2Google Scholar.

19. Xinzhong, Qian, “To implement birth planning is a basic national strategy of our country,” Hongqi, No. 23 (1982), p. 11Google Scholar.

20. See Tao, Ren and Bing, Yue, “Population and employment,” Beijing Review, 28 03 1983, pp. 1722Google Scholar.

21. Xinzhong, Qian, “To implement birth planning,” p. 11Google Scholar; Xinzhong, Qian, “China's population policy,” Beijing Review, 14 02 1983, pp. 2122Google Scholar.

22. Xiaofen, Sun, “Family planning in Nangong county,” China Reconstructs, 04 1980, p. 8Google Scholar; Youtao, Dong, “The relationship between the population of minority nationalities and the economy,” Jingji wenti tansuo, No. 2 (1983), p. 34Google Scholar.

23. Xinzhong, Qian, “To implement birth planning,” p. 10Google Scholar.

24. Guangming ribao, 27 October 1981.

25. Qiang, Lei et al. , ”To advocate eugenics and to raise population quality,” Zhongshan daxue xuebao, No. 2 (1981), p. 29Google Scholar; Dongsheng, Sun, “Popularizing the knowledge of eugenics and advocating optimal birth vigorously,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 4 (1981), p. 41Google Scholar.

26. Dawen, Yang, Li, Zheng and Suping, Liu, Basic Knowledge about The New Marriage Law (Beijing: People's Press, 1981), pp. 4243Google Scholar. In the 1950 marriage law collateral relatives except brothers and sisters were not prohibited marriage partners. Thus, the new rule has enlarged the legally exogamous group.

27. See Muhua, Chen,“Developing population science,” p. 7Google Scholar; and Qiange, Lei et al. , “To advocate eugenics,” p. 31Google Scholar.

28. Ibid. p. 31.

29. Xinzhong, Qian, “To implement birth planning,” p. 12Google Scholar.

30. See New China News Agency, 29 June 1979; and Renmin ribao, 9 September 1980, p. 2; 13 September 1980, p. 5.

31. The Chinese translation appears on p. 3 of the Chinese version of the book published by Beijing, the People's Press, 1972.

32. Yuanliang, Zhou, “To recognize the importance of the two-fold production theory in MantismJiangxishehui kexue, Nos. 5–6 (1981), p. 46Google Scholar; Yu, Si, “On the role of population in social development,” Jingjixue dongtai, No. 5 (1981), p. 24Google Scholar.

33. Huaiyu, Zhang, “On several theoretical problems concerning two-fold social production,” Renkou yu jingji, No. 3 (1982), p. 12Google Scholar.

34. Songnian, Yu, “Some opinions on our country's population problem,” Shanghai shifan xueyuan xuebao, No. 4 (1980), p. 149Google Scholar.

35. Li, Zhang, “A summary of the discussion on the theory of the two-fold character of production,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 5 (1982), p. 2Google Scholar.

36. Du, Cheng, “Fertility survey in the rural area of Hubei province,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 5 (1982), p. 31Google Scholar. Another analysis of the findings of the same survey was published as Du, Cheng, “The reproduction of rural population - an analysis of a survey,” Jingji yanjiu, No. 6 (1982), pp. 5157Google Scholar.

37. Office of Birth Planning, Xicheng District, Beijing, et al., A population survey in the western urban district of Beijing,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 1 (1981), p. 31Google Scholar; Ziyingef, Wang et al. , “A survey report on the population and economy of the Qingbaikou commune in the Mentougou district of Beijing,” Jingji kexue, No. 4 (1981), pp. 7172Google Scholar; Ersheng, Gao et al. , “A cohort analysis of the fertility of the ‘July 1st’ people's commune in Shanghai county,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 3 (1982), p. 46Google Scholar; and Wenhua, Wu et al. , “How peasants view one couple with only one child,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 4 (1981), p. 45Google Scholar.

38. See He Kuoguan, et al. , “What should be focused on in rural family planning as judged by a population survey in Huai Yuan county,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 2 (1982), p. 49Google Scholar; and the case of the dumb woman reported in Zhejiang ribao, 1 November 1983.

39. See Xiuzhen, Li, “Focusing on quality as the principle to compile the Dictionary of Demography and trying to work faster on that basis,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 6 (1982), p. 9Google Scholar.

40. Du, Cheng, “Fertility survey in the rural area of Hubei province,” p. 31Google Scholar.

41. This was hinted at in a report on a symposium about rural population problems held in Hunan. SeeRenkou yanjiu. No. 1 (1983), p. 63Google Scholar.

42. See Xing, Su, ”Responsibility system and the development of collective economy in rural areas,” Jingji yanjiu, No. 11 (1982), pp. 39Google Scholar; Johnson, G. E., “The production responsibility system in Chinese agriculture: some examples from Guangdong,” Pacific Affairs, Vol. 55, No. 3 (1982), pp. 430–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Chai, C. H., “Changes in property rights and income distribution under China's baogan daohu system,” paper presented at the conference on “Development and Distribution in China,” Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong and Goethe Institute, Hong Kong, 14–17 03 1983Google Scholar.

43. See Renmin ribao, 2 February 1982, p. 5; “A brief report on Hunan's first conference on demography,” Qiu Suo, No. 3 (1982), pp. 121–22Google Scholar; and Huaiyu, Zhang, “On population and economy as well as the peasant problem of rural population control,” Jingji yanjiu, No. 12 (1981), p. 37Google Scholar.

44. Yungui, Zhao, “On the theoretical basis, strategic meaning and important Approaches of Controlling Population Growth,“ in Renkou wenti yu sihua (The Population Problem and the Four Modernizations) (Sichuan: Sichuan People's Press, 1981), p. 346Google Scholar.

45. There were reportedly 488,198 male and 434,141 female births. See Wansong, Zhang et al. , “Effective steps must be taken against the disproportion of sex ratio at birth,” Shehui, No. 2 (1983), p. 29Google Scholar. A report in Beijing Review gave the ratio of 111·12 to 100 without furnishing the actual numbers of births. See Beijing Review, 2 May 1983, p. 13.

46. Beijing Review, 25 April 1983, p. 9.

47. For a report on popular reactions to a widely-publicized case of infanticide, see Hongjuan, Mei, “The nature of the case of killing one's own baby daughter,” Shehui, No. 1 (1983), pp. 2830Google Scholar. It is significant that some parents have openly expressed some degree of sympathy for the culprit.

48. Wenruo, Hou, “Population policy,” p. 76Google Scholar; see also Muhua, Chen, “Developing population science,” p. 3Google Scholar.

49. Ji, Yang, “Correctly solve population problems in minority nationalities regions,” Zhongyang minzu xueyuan xuebao, No. 2 (1982), p. 34Google Scholar.

50. See Zhongke, Jia, “An analysis of the elements in the Kajak population,” Zhongyang minzu xueyuan xuebao, No. 2 (1983), p. 86Google Scholar; Tianlu, Zhang and Xiuyin, Chen, “The increase of the population of the minority nationalities and the prosperity of nationalities in Gutzhou province,” Zhongyang minzu xueyuan xuebao, No. 1 (1983), p. 24Google Scholar; and The Secretariat of the Chinese Population Science Society, “A summary of the seminar on the population survey of China's minorities,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 2 (1983), p. 63Google Scholar.

51. Zhengliang, Ma, “On some issues about population control of our national minorities,” Renkou yanjiu. No. 2 (1981), p. 35Google Scholar.

52. Tianlu, Zhang and Xiuying, Chen, “The increase of the population of minority nationalities,” p. 23Google Scholar.

53. See Xinyuan, Du, “Implement birth planning and control population growth,” in Renkou wentiyu sihua, p. 16Google Scholar.

54. “On the average, each person takes 10 times to be persuaded. The most difficult person can take up to 100 times,” said one official. See South China Morning Post, 19 May 1982.

55. See Shushi, Li, “Correctly understand and handle the new situation and problems of the reproduction of peasants,” Renkou yu jingji, No. 2 (1982), p. 47Google Scholar; and Remin ribao, 7 November 1982, p. 1.

56. On under-reporting of births in Guangzhou, , see Ming bao [Hong Kong], 27 01 1983Google Scholar. On a large discrepancy in urban population figures as revealed by the 1982 census and administrative records, see Beijing Review, 14 February 1983, p. 28. Lucien Bianco believes that the doubtful quality of local population statistics is more a product of indifference towards figures than deliberate fudging of the records. See Bianco, L., “Birth control in China: local data and their reliability,” China Quarterly, No. 85 (03 1981), pp. 119–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57. Xiantang, Zuo, “On the question of rural population in China,” Jingji wenti tansuo, No. 5 (1982), p. 42Google Scholar.

58 Zhe, Fan, “To grasp the family planning programme early, carefully and surely according to the law of reproduction,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 6 (1982), p. 49Google Scholar.

59. See Xiaobing, Yang, “Planned parenthood, Shandong style,” Beijing Review, 14 02 1983, p. 26Google Scholar, Shushi, Li, “Correctly understand and handle the new situation,” p. 48Google Scholar.

60. Chen, Pi-chao, “Population and birth planning,” p. 601Google Scholar.

61. Nairong, Wang, “On several problems concerning the formulation of birth planning laws,” in Renkou wenti yu sihua, p. 302Google Scholar.

62. See Birth planning in China,” Draper Fund Report, No. 8 (1980), p. 14Google Scholar; People's Government of Rongcheng county, Shandong province, To develop the family planning work deeply through following the working method of ‘Taking three as the keys,’” Renkou yanjiu, No. 6 (1982), p. 26Google Scholar.

63. See South China Morning Post, 28 May 1983 and 6 July 1983; Zhejiang ribao, 4 January 1983 and 11 January 1983; Peng, Xing, “No multiple births in Shifang county in 1981,” Renkou yanjiu. No. 6 (1982), p. 31Google Scholar.

64. Zhejiang ribao, 20 January 1983.

65. Yinyuan, Du, “Implement birth planning,” p. 26Google Scholar.

66. For objections to abortion and sterilization on humanitarian grounds in the 1950s, see Yinchu, Ma, “New population theory,” p. 21Google Scholar; Da, Chen, “Birth control, late marriage and the population problem of new China,” Xin jianshe, No. 5 (1957), pp. 45Google Scholar.

67. On welfare services for the handicapped, see Dixon, John, The Chinese Welfare System, 1949–1979 (New York: Praeger Publisher, 1981), pp. 264–76Google Scholar. For an investigation df the existing situation of the mentally retarded in Shanghai, see Yamei, Zhang and Jianming, Shi, “Reducing the number of retarded children, improving the quality of population,” Shehui, No. 1 (1982), pp. 2529Google Scholar.

68. A scholar at Fudan University has proposed a scale to measure a person's quality at the age of 45. A score of 5 is attached to moral quality; 10 to occupation; 10 to educational attainment; 60 to “creative ability”; 5 to physical health; and 10 to other qualities. A physically handicapped or mentally retarded person will receive a zero score for physical health just as a criminal will receive the same mark for moral quality. See Wenhua, Zhu, “Also on population quality,” Jingji kexue, No. 4 (1981), p. 23Google Scholar.

69. Beijing Review, 23 May 1983, p. 2.

70. See Dagong boo (Hong Kong), 13 02 1982Google Scholar and 29 March 1983.

71. See Wong, Siu-lun, Sociology and Socialism in Contemporary China, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979)Google Scholar; Li, Choh-ming, The Statistical System of Communist China (Berkely: University of California Press, 1962)Google Scholar.

72. Coale, A. J., “Population trends, population policy, and population studies in China,” Population and Development Review, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1981), p. 97CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

73. Muhua, Chen, “Developing population science,” p. 1Google Scholar; see also Tien, H. Y., “Demography in China: from zero to now,” Population Index (1981), pp. 683700Google Scholar.

74. Guangdong, “backward” example in family planning, appears to be one of these regions with higher than average numbers of youths and women of reproductive age in the population. See Yuncheng, Zhu, “On the importance and urgency of implementing a one-child per couple policy in our country from the perspective of population development trends,” Zhongshan daxue xuebao, No. 4 (1980), p. 8Google Scholar.

75. For a full statement of Simon's position, see his two books: The Economics of Population Growth (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977)Google Scholar and The Ultimate Resource (Oxford: Martin Robertson, 1981)Google Scholar. Bauer, P. T. has also rejected forcefully many of the assertions about the negative effects of population growth in “The population explosion: myths and realities,” in Bauer, , Equality, The Third World and Economic Delusion (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981), pp. 4265Google Scholar.

76. Simon, , The Economics of Population Growth, p. 474Google Scholar. Emphasis in the original.

77. Ibid. p. 477.

78. Xueyuan, Tian, Xin shiqi renkou lun (Population Theory of the New Period) (Heilongjiang: People's Press, 1982), pp. 2935Google Scholar.

79. Parish, William L. Jr, ”Socialism and the Chinese peasant family,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 3, p. 616Google Scholar.

80. Qing, Zhou, “Several points on the economic policies to control population,” in Renkou wenti yu sihua, p. 277Google Scholar.

81. Chunyuan, Zhang, “On human investment in families,” Beijing daxue xuebao (Journal of Peking University, Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), No. 2 (1982), p. 9Google Scholar.

82. See Findley, Sally E., “Fertility and migration,” in International Encyclopedia of Population (1982), pp. 247–52Google Scholar.

83. Shigui, Dong et al. , “Fertility survey in the rural area of Henan province,” Renkou yanjiu. No. 6 (1982), p. 42Google Scholar.

84. See Xiaotong, Fei, “On changes in Chinese family structure,” Tianjin shehui kexue, No. 3 (1982), pp. 26Google Scholar.

85. Zhonghua renmin gongheguo hunyin fa (The Marriage Law of The People's Republic of China) (Beijing: Legal Press, 1980), p. 4Google Scholar.

86. Wenruo, Hou, “Population policy,” p. 74Google Scholar.

87. Dagong bao, 11 March 1982.

88. Wenruo, Hou, “Population policy,” p. 74Google Scholar.

89. Ibid. p. 75.

90. See, e.g., Dixin, Xu, “On several problems about demography,” Jingji yanjiu, No. 4 (1981), p. 8Google Scholar. Xu is the president of the newly-established Chinese Demographic Society.

91. Teitelbaum, M. S., “Population and development: is a consensus possible?”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 52 (1974), p. 748CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

92. Speare, A. Jr, “Migration and family change in central Taiwan,” in Skinner, G. W. and Elvin, M. (eds.), The Chinese City Between Two Worlds (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), p. 325Google Scholar.

93. According to a personal communication from J. S. Aird to Pi-chao Chen, this was the worry of some Chinese military leaders during the National People's Congress held in 1980. See Chen, Pi-chao, “Population and birth planning,” p. 600Google Scholar.

94. See, e.g., Blake, J., “The one child in America: prejudice versus performance,” Population and Development Review, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1981), pp. 4354CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

95. Zhongguo qingnian bao, 2 October 1980.

96. Shengguan, Wang, “Sociology and the population problem,” Shehui kexue zhanxian, No. 2 (1982), p. 102Google Scholar.

97. It was said that figures from 20 provinces and municipalities between 1974 and 1976 had shown that infant mortality rates in the countryside were two to four times higher than those in the cities. See Xiantang, Zuo, “On the question of rural population in China,” p. 39Google Scholar. Nationally, the infant mortality rate has reportedly dropped from 200 per thousand before 1949 to 12 per thousand in the cities and 20–30 per thousand in the countryside in 1981. SeeChinese Medical Journal, Vol. 94, No. 9 (1981), p. 606Google Scholar. But the decline might be less spectacular due to under-reporting of infant deaths. For example, it was found that in Shanghai the deaths of about half of the babies who died during their first months in 1972 were not reported. See Hengde, Dong et al. , “Measures and effectiveness in controlling omission of infant death in Shanghai metropolitan areas,” Renkou yanjiu. No. 4 (1982), p. 49Google Scholar.

98. For such instances, see China Daily, 8 June 1982.

99. Ziyingera, Wang et al. , “A survey report,” p. 71Google Scholar.

100. Du, Cheng, “Fertility survey in the rural area of Hubei province,” p. 56Google Scholar.

101. Another possible arrangement is for the couple to live away from both sets of parents. But as the new marriage law implies, this neo-local pattern which leaves the older generation living by themselves is not advocated by the government. See also Croll, Elisabeth, The Politics of Marriage in Contemporary China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 143Google Scholar.

102. See Zhimin, Li et al. , “Preliminary analysis of mercenary marriage,” Faxue yanjiu, No. 2 (1980), pp. 3540Google Scholar.

103. Zhonghua renmin gongheguo guomin jingji he shehui fazhan diliuge wunian jihua 1981–1985 (The Sixth Five-Year Plan of National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, 1981–1985) (Beijing: People's Press, 1983), p. 141Google Scholar.

104. Lyle, Katherine Ch'iu, “Planned birth in Tianjin,” p. 556Google Scholar.

105. See Du, Cheng, “Several problems concerning the population policy of our country and their solutions,” Wuhan daxue xuebao, No. 3 (1981), pp. 56Google Scholar.

106. See Zhe, Fan, “To grasp the family planning programme early, carefully and surely according to the law of reproduction,” Renkou yanjiu, No. 6 (1982), p. 48Google Scholar.

107. See Zhenquan, Kuang, “Population planning and planned birth,” in Peiliang, Li and Zhaojia, Liu (eds.), Renmin gongshe yu nongcun fazhan (The People's Commune and Rural Development) (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1981), pp. 156Google Scholar.

108. Freedman, Maurice, “Ritual aspects of Chinese kinship and marriage,” in Freedman, Maurice (ed.), Family and Kinship in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1970), p. 183Google Scholar.

109. Taueber, Irene B., “China's Population: riddle of the past, enigma of the future,” The Anlioch Review, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1957)Google Scholar, reprinted in Feuerwerker, A. (ed.). Modern China (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1964), p. 26Google Scholar.