Thomas Scharping - Birth Control in China 1949-2000: Population Policy and Demographic Development

Birth Control in China 19492000

This comprehensive volume analyses Chinese birth policies and population developments from the founding of the Peoples Republic to the 2000 census. The main emphasis is on Chinas Hardship Number One Under Heaven: the highly controversial one-child campaign, and the violent clash between family strategies and government policies it entails.

Birth Control in China 19492000 documents an agonizing search for a way out of the predicament and a protracted inner Party struggle, a massive effort at social engineering and grinding problems of implementation. It reveals how birth control in China is shaped by political, economic and social interests, bureaucratic structures and financial concerns. Based on own interviews and a wealth of new statistics, surveys and documents, Thomas Scharping also analyses how the demographics of China have changed due to birth control policies, and what the future is likely to hold.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of modern China, Asian studies and the social sciences.

Thomas Scharping is Chair for Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Cologne, Germany. He has published widely on modern China, including Floating Population and Migration in China: The Impact of Economic Reforms (Hamburg: 1997) and the documentary collection, The Evolution of Regional Birth Planning Norms in China 195497 (for the journal Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, Armonk: 2000).

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Birth Control in China 19492000

Population Policy and Demographic Development
Thomas Scharping

Birth Control in China 19492000

Population policy and demographic development

Thomas Scharping

First published 2003
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

Transferred to Digital printing 2006

2003 Thomas Scharping

Typeset in Goudy by LaserScript Ltd, Mitcham, Surrey

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0700711546 (hbk)
ISBN 0415386047 (pbk)

Preface

This book is based on many years of studying Chinese population problems. It incorporates the results of numerous visits to China to research social developments and population policy in that country. This field research has greatly enhanced my knowledge of normative issues, procedural questions, and problems of implementation in the course of Chinas one-child campaign. All information in the study that is not backed up by references is based on it. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) supported three of these research stays in 1986, 1990 and 1992, during which half-structured in-depth interviews with about 140 Chinese demographers, sociologists, statisticians, birth-control cadres and civil servants were conducted. I am deeply indebted to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for this support. The University of Cologne, Germany, relieved me of my teaching duties during a sabbatical leave.

Within China the research was conducted with the friendly assistance of many colleagues from academies, universities and other research institutes, and the cooperation of various state agencies. They are so numerous that I can thank them only collectively here. In particular, the following research institutions have extended their hospitality and provided valuable information: the Population Institutes of the Chinese Academy for Social Sciences and the provincial academies of Shanghai, Sichuan and Yunnan; the Population Institutes of Beijing University, Peoples University and Beijing College of Economics, Fudan University and East China Normal University in Shanghai, Sichuan University, Southwest China College for Finance and Economics and Yunnan University; the National Library in Beijing, the Shanghai Library, and the Provincial Libraries of Sichuan and Yunnan. Much patience in suffering my endless questions has been shown by the State Birth-Planning Commission and the Birth-Planning Commissions of the provinces mentioned above; the State Statistical Bureau and the Statistical Bureaux of Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan and Yunnan; the Ministry of Labour and the Labour Departments of all three provinces. Discussions with various administrations, academies and university institutes of Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan provinces which I had in the course of a different project during 1993 and 1994 have also enriched the work. Attending the Conference of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population in Beijing during October 1997 offered me yet another chance to meet and exchange views.