Family Planning In China

Alexander Wu/56055205

The family has as the central social unit has been regarded by the state as to serve key functions of the Chinese society. Family planning has been an important aspect of the Chinese socialist society planning scheme.

Overview

China now has a population of 1.4 billion, constituting 20% of the total world population. Populations in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have reached over 20 million. In response to the rapid population growth, the Chinese state has started creating and revising several population control policies as a part of its family planning strategy since the 1970s-1980s.

Population Control Policies

One Child Policy

From 1979 to October 2015, the Chinese government implemented the one-child policy in an effort to limit the rapid population growth that occurred during the years following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The one-child policy is implemented differently between urban areas and rural areas. Households in China are divided into two types according to the household registration policy: rural households (which constitute approximately 70% of the total Chinese population) and urban households (the remaining 30% of the total Chinese population).

The one-child policy was initially enforced strictly to urban households as well as to civil servants. Other than three conditions under which a second child is allowed, urban households are allotted one birth quota per household. The three exceptions are:

1. the first child is born with a disability;
2. both parents work in high-risk occupations;
3. both parents are the only child in their families (only in some areas).

Rural households are generally allowed a second child after the birth of the first child. Nevertheless, under some circumstances, a second child is only allowed when the first child is female. A third child is sometimes allowed amongst some households of minority ethnicities or in underpopulated areas.

Two-Child Policy

In October 2015, the two-child policy replaced the one-child policy which was in place for 36 years since 1979. The two-child policy opens up a second birth quota universally, in contrast to the one-child policy which only allowed second births under certain exceptional conditions. The policy aims to ease the demographic tension on Sex-Ratio at Birth discrepancy, low birth rate and population ageing.

Implementations and Controversies

In addition to controversies over Sex-Selective Abortion (SSA) and female infanticide due to son preference, impacts on the state's demography such as Sex-Ratio at Birth discrepancy and population ageing as a result of low fertility rate , the one-child policy impacts the social demography and receives controversy in many other ways.

Discipline

In the early 1980s when the one-child policy was first introduced, monetary rewards were emphasised in promoting conformity to the policy. Nevertheless, it has proven to have limited success, especially in rural areas, due to the insignificancy of the reward in comparison to the benefit an additional child would bring to the household's productivity. Also, local officials could be bribed into a disregard of the birth quota.

In response to the ineffectiveness of rewards, the state introduced disciplinary penalties to disobedience. Under the one-child policy, children who are born into families without of birth quota assignments are regarded as illegal births and their parents are subject to penalties, confiscation of belongings and dismissal from work. For example, in the most populous Chinese province of Sichuan, the local government implemented monetary penalties in increments for every subsequent unplanned pregnancy and childbirth. The household is fined recurrently for each month of unplanned pregnancy, however, the fine will be returned if the pregnancy is terminated.

Marriage

The Marriage Law sets the framework of the Chinese state's family planning scheme. Sexuality and reproduction are key functions of marriages and are subject to regulation by the Marriage Law as a part of the population control effort. Marriage in the current Chinese state entails official registration by which a marriage certificate is issued.

Extra-marital childbearing is not recognised under the Marriage Law. The birth of a child and one's subsequent household registration requires the marriage certificate of the child's parents. An inability to provide a valid marriage certificate of the child's parent would result in the inability to complete the household registration in addition to a monetary penalty.

Personhood Legitimacy

The legitimacy of personhood under the current governance in China is confirmed by one's household registration upon one's birth. A person's citizen identity card bases according to one's household registration. With the one-child policy in effect, children who are born into families without legitimate birth quota cannot register as legitimate citizens. The absence of a household registration delegitimises a person's social identity, which then hinders a person's socialising practices and access to social resources such as education, healthcare and employment. An estimation of 10 million unregistered childbirths each year was suggested in the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

Eugenics

One of the unexpected consequences that the Chinese government faced as a result of the one-child policy was the 'low-quality' of children born in less economically developed areas.

As a result, eugenic became an increasingly influential idea in the state's family planning strategy. In May 1988, the state established the Chinese Eugenics Society which aimed at promoting quality birth in attempts to improve the overall national population quality. The current Marriage Law and Law on Maternal and Infant Health Care requires pre-marital physical examinations for all couples preparing for marriage. Should any party be diagnosed of 'severe hereditary conditions' that are 'unsuitable for reproduction', the physician shall communicate the condition to the couple whom may marry after committing to long-term contraceptives use or sterilisation.

Women's Status and Gender Equality

The great majority of married Chinese women are in the workforce. Following the implementation of the one-child policy, a reduction in women's childrearing workload and household chores is seen as a result of having fewer children in the household. As a result, women gain more leisure time and bargaining power in the marriage which enables them to formulate a more equal marital relationship with their husbands.

The one-child policy also has an impact on the power dynamic between women and their mothers-in-law. Traditionally, the wife tends to move into the husband's household after marriage. A mother who has multiple children have significant power in the household amongst one's daughters-in-law upon one's sons marriages. A wife who is on unfavourable side of the power relationship with one's mother-in-law would want to give birth to multiple boys to acquire power with one's mother-in-law, as well as to subsequently become the mother-in-law of multiple daughters-in-law ('duo nian de xi fu ao cheng po' - literally a daughter-in-law will eventually become a mother-in-law; figuratively the oppressed will one day become the oppressor). As a consequence of the one-child policy, the power differential between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law is significantly reduced. A mother who gave birth to a daughter is more likely to lose one's daughter because one's daughter usually moves to the husband's household. A mother who gave birth to a son also possesses less power over one's daughter-in-law as a result of the reduced size of the household.

Due to son-preference and the cultural expectation for a man to carry on one's patrilineal bloodline, many parents who give birth to multiple children outside of one's allotted quota do not register daughters. A 1995 household survey conducted in six Chinese counties by international academic institutions shows that the actual number of girls exceeds official police data by 22%. On the other hand, no significant discrepancy was found amongst boys.