Resistance to the one-child family
Wasserstrom, J.
Modern China 10(3): 345-374
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0097-7004 DOI: 10.1177/009770048401000305Document Number: 406165
Despite evident successes in implementing its new population policy, the Chinese Government still faces serious opposition. This takes the form of female infanticide, wife-beating for bearing a female child, refusal to stop reproduction at one child, illicit removal of IUDs, and sabotage of family planning work and personnel. The preference for sons, generated by cultural tradition and perceived economic necessity, is at the root of much of the resistance and the form that the resistance takes. Attempts to encourage compliance with the new policy have two distinctive features in contrast with past efforts: while propaganda still emphasizes moral and ideological reasons for compliance, it now also explains the natural and individual material benefits of small families. The official explanation of demographic patterns and resistance to policy is reviewed and the relationship between the resistance to one-child families and the privatization of agriculture in the Household Responsibility System is considered.