In the 1990s, however, this changed for the better. The Chinese government began a series of reforms concerning the policy in this decade. They began to discourage local officials from using enforcement means that were too "heavy-handed" (Chinese Reproductive Policy at the Turn of the Millennium, pg 382), outlawed sex-selective abortions, and placed more emphasis on educating families, especially women. And finally in 2000, the birth planning policy was written into law (PRC's law on population and planning), adding a legal framework to what used to be a chaotic population control plot. The policy itself was fine-tuned as well, to better reflect contemporary social patterns. For instance, the state newly allowed single-child husbands and single-child wives to have two children between each other. (Chinese Reproductive Policy at the Turn of the Millennium, pg 382) This process of fine-tuning persists even today: according to a report issued this month, re-marrying couples in Shanghai are allowed to have one child between each other even if they've each had one child from their previous marriages. (www.cpirc.org.cn/enews20031010.htm) The new birth planning law is flexible enough to even accommodate individuals who have gone through divorce or separation.
While the state gives financial incentives and disincentives to nudge families into complying with the birth planning policy, this is a more relaxed, suggestive way of controlling citizens' reproductive lives. This stands in sharp contrast to the highly intrusive and coercive enforcement measures of the 1970s described above. In addition, thanks to the state's efforts to educate the general public about overpopulation and healthcare, more and more women are choosing, entirely from their own volition, to have lesser children or no children at all. Modern everyday life patterns may be involved in this change as well. In a survey last summer, 10% of Shanghai women said they don't want to have a baby. Busy career women (who are growing in number) are less inclined to start their own families, because they feel they don't have the time and commitment to be their caretakers. Slowly but surely, the effects of public education and economic prosperity are sinking in, influencing more and more people to have fewer and fewer children as a whole. The most recent fertility figures are as follows: Fertility rate 13 births per thousand people, population growth rate 0.6%. (www.cia.gov) Compared to the old, 1970s birth planning policy, the post-1990s policy is much healthier, more liberal and just as effective, if not more.
Be Sure to Continue to Page 5 of "China's Birth Planning Policy: Positive Steps to an Uncertain Victory ".
