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Scholar traces history of family planning
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The relaxation of population control measures which date back more than three decades has sparked a national debate. Indeed, many have been quick to heap scorn on these restrictions, not only for their unintended consequences but also for the heavy-handed way in which they were sometimes enforced.
On the other hand, the policies have also found defenders. One figure inclined to cast them in a more favorable light is historian and Fudan University professor Ge Jianxiong. Speaking at a recent lecture in Shanghai, Ge suggested that China’s modern family planning policies ought to be considered in historical context and amended to meet present realities.
According to Ge, many mistakenly assume that the family planning policy was the brainchild of the Chinese Communist Party. In fact, it was mooted in 1941 and formally enacted in 1945. However, Japan’s invasion of China halted actual implementation.
Such polices were later taken up and brought to bear in the late 1970s, when China’s economy was teetering on the verge of financial ruin. As Ge observed, the Chinese government was forced to adopt stringent birth control measures out of necessity. What’s more, he explained that such a choice was not without precedent.
Misconception
The popular notion that large families were the norm in ancient China is actually a misconception, said Ge, who invoked research suggesting that fertility rates among ancient Chinese were actually quite low. Ge claimed that China’s ancient nuclear families were small in many cases, typically including five or fewer members during the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD).
Sex-selected infanticide prompted by a cultural preference for sons was believed to have kept family size in check. Many ancient people also avoided having more children when another mouth to feed would have been detrimental to their economic interests, said Ge.
For example, in south China’s mountainous Fujian Province, small families were an obvious choice for ancient households already living a hand-to-mouth existence.
Traditions and practices evolved dramatically over time, noted Ge. Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) issued a decree mandating all the nation’s widows remarry, to increase the population. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), when the population spiked, widows were forbidden from remarrying. This ban was kept in place until the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Widows who refused to remarry were officially rewarded and made examples of, often with archway monuments erected commemorating their chastity.
According to the professor, other factors such as feudal corvee (unpaid labor demanded by the state), a fearsome penal system, wars, plagues and catastrophes all contributed to a low birth rate within the general populace.
Fertility, however, was uneven among different social classes. Many within the privileged gentry class, where concubinage was common, worked vigorously to produce more offspring, said Ge.
This inequality in terms of fertility was eventually narrowed thanks largely to the arrival of foreign crops such as potatoes, corn, peanuts and chili, which could be grown on land unsuited for rice and wheat growing, thereby effectively feeding countless hungry households and resulting in a population explosion.
While China is in the process of adjusting its family planning policies, based primarily on socioeconomic factors such as a dwindling work force and a swelling population of senior citizens, the issue also needs to be approached from an ethical viewpoint, said Ge, alluding to the social adjustment issues seen in many young Chinese people who lack siblings.
Indeed, foreseeing a looming demographic cliff, Ge actually called for official tolerance of second children as early as 1995. Today though, Ge considers his earlier advice to have been too conservative. He now believes couples should be encouraged to have two children — or even three or four in certain cases.
His suggestions follow a slew of reports which indicate that fewer couples have applied for a second child than expected since family planning policies were eased more than a year ago.
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