Motivating the masses for family planning in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

China's family planning efforts give the appearance of being substantial and effective, though in terms of hard data the precise degree of success achieved is hard to gauge. The author's five-week tour of China, upon which this article is based, showed a country that seemed capable of controlling its rate of population growth, but it was unclear whether the desired level of growth had in fact been attained. What was clear is that several unusual ingredients are primarily responsible for the marked progress made to date. Foremost among them is a public attitude of strict adherence to a moral code which effectively limits sexual relations to married couples and which encourages delay of marriage well beyond the teenage years. Enhancing this, a wide-ranging State publicity campaign promotes birth control through public address systems, brochures given newlyweds, classes and information provided to expectant parents, discussion groups designed to elicit «voluntary» adoption of birth control methods, and other means. To complement this, the Government provides a nationwide network of free or nearly free family planning services organized down to the local level and fully equipped to assist with contraception, sterilization, or termination of pregnancy upon request. Although general statistics have not been made available, it seems obvious that a substantial reduction in China's potential rate of population growth has been achieved (Au)