Overview

The success in urban areas of China's one-child family policy has been hailed by demographers hoping to apply it elsewhere. The policy has been condemned by human rights activists who, citing for instance cases of forced abortions, argue that the policy has only succeeded through coercion. Others have warned of the breakdown of traditional Chinese family structures as a result of the policy, and documented the growth of the 'little emperor' syndrome. This study approaches these issues from a different angle and comes to startling conclusions. Using data from an extensive survey, the author argues that most city district Chinese women would prefer to have more than one child but comply with the one-child policy. This tends not to be due to coercion. While they may not agree with the policy, they accept the moral legitimacy of state policy, and this leads them to conscientiously (zijue) accept the correct attitude (sixiang). The success of this policy, then, is rooted in Confucian traditions; it cannot be applied in other countries with the same results. Indeed, even in China its foundations are being undermined by social and political consequences of the present economic reforms. The author continues with a description of how the Chinese woman copes with the situation by cultivation of herself as the virtuous wife and mother and of her child as the perfect only child.

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9780700704576

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Reviews

'An excellent introduction to China's population problems and policies and an in-depth study of the ways those policies are viewed by urban women.' - Delia Davin, Bulletin of SOAS

Author Information

Cecilia Nathansen Milwertz

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