Table Of ContentChinese
Approaches to
fa
mily Planning
EDITED WITH AN
INTRODUCTION BY
LEO A. ORLEANS
Chinese
Approaches to
Family Planning
Translated by Robert Dunn
© M. E. Sharpe Inc. 1978, 1979
901 North Broadway
White Plains, New York 10603
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1979 978-0-333-27894-9
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, without permission
First published in the U.S.A. 1979
First published in the U.K. 19 79
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in Delhi
Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos
Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Chinese approaches to family planning.
1. Birth control-China-Addresses,
essays, lectures
I. Orleans, Leo A
301.32'1'0951 HQ766.5.C5
ISBN 978-1-349-05141-0 ISBN 978-1-349-05139-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05139-7
This book is sold subject to the
standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Planning Births in China:
Trends and Traumas
by Leo A. Orleans 3
I. LITERATURE AND ART PROPAGANDA:
SOURCE MATERIALS ON FAMILY PLANNING
People's Health Press
Editor's Introduction 21
Publisher's Note 23
Family Planning Is Good
Hsii Pao-ch'eng 26
Family Planning Is Good
Liu Liang-ch'ung 32
Changing Customs and Habits
Office of Family Planning,
Ju-tung Hsien, Kiangsu Province 45
Yii-hua and Her Family
M
HriL~
Family Planning Is Good
The Kindergarten, Hei-chuang-hu Production
Brigade, Shuang-ch'iao Commune, Ch'ao-yang
District, Peking Municipality 58
v
vi
Open Fire on the Reactionary Fallacy That
"Males Are Exalted and Females Are Demeaned"
Hsin-ning-ts'un Production Brigade, Mu-chia-
yii Commune, Mi-yiin Hsien, Peking 61
Going to Meet Maternal Grandmother
Sun Tsai-hua 65
Returning a Gift
Cultural Station, Liu-li Commune,
Hai-yen Hsien, Chekiang Province 79
"Appendicitis" Operation
Wang Ch'ih 86
Chuang-chih and Ling-yiin
The Propaganda Team, No. 2 Coal Mine,
Shan-sung-kang, Kirin Province 92
In Praise of a Son-in-Law
Ch'i Chin-ts'ai 110
II. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON
INFORMATION ABOUT FAMILY PLANNING
Han Hsiang-yang, Editor
Editor's Introduction 125
One. Family Planning and Encouraging
Late Marriage 127
Two. Structure and Physiology of the
Genital Organs 133
Three. The Various Methods of Birth Control 139
Four. Questions about Oral Contraceptive Pills 157
Five. Questions about Other Contraceptive
Methods 165
Six. General Questions about Contraception 173
vii
Seven. Questions about Deferentectomy
[ Vasectomy] 175
Eight. Questions about Tubectomy 183
Nine. Questions about Induced Abortion and
about Induced Abortion during the Mid
Gestational Period 190
APPENDIX
Editor's Introduction 195
China on the Population Question
China Reconstructs 197
Party Secretaries Take Command in Mobilizing
the Whole Party in Doing a Still Better Job in
Family Planning
People's Daily 203
Family Planning in Jutung County
Tsao An-hua/Peking Review 210
ABOUT THE EDITOR 224
Chinese
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Introduction
Planning Births in China:
Trends and Traumas
Leo A. Orleans
"The state advocates and encourages family planning." This
is not a casual remark made by a Chinese guide to a visiting
delegation. It is an excerpt from Article 53 of China's new
Constitution, adopted on March 3, 1978, which makes the Peo
ple's Republic of China one of just a handful of countries which
have written population control into the highest law of the land.
Addressing the Fifth National People's Congress, which put its
stamp of approval on the Constitution, Hua Kuo-feng further
stressed the importance China is now attaching to population
control by stating, "We must continue to give (family planning)
serious attention and strive to lower the annual rate of growth
of China's population to less than 1 percent within three years.''l
This is indeed a most ambitious goal. Does the Chinese lead
ership believe it to be realistic or, as in so many of China's
stated objectives, is it intended simply to emphasize the na
tion's commitment and to stimulate enthusiasm for family
planning? Could Peking be so optimistic about the prospects
of achieving a 1 percent growth rate that it is willing to risk
losing a certain amount of prestige in even suggesting the pos
sibility of success?
In the past thirty years, vacillations in China's official atti
tudes toward population and family planning have closely fol
lowed the political shifts and struggles - albeit in the case of
family planning the changes shifted with the speed of a tide
rather than a tidal wave. The first birth control campaign was
3
4 Chinese Family Planning
initiated in the mid-1950s, when China was intent on fulfilling the
economic goals set out in the Soviet-assisted First Five-Year
Plan (1953-57); it was abandoned a few years later during the
Mao-inspired Great Leap Forward, late in 1958. The second
campaign started to gain momentum in 1962 after China experi
enced severe economic problems in the aftermath of the Great
Leap. It picked up steam in the mid-1960s only to be overtaken,
in 1966, by the Cultural Revolution, when all discussion of birth
control ceased. The latest campaign started in the early 1970s,
and despite some minor deviations, the long-term trend has been
an increase in its intensity, culminating in the incorporation of
the statement on family planning into the new Constitution.
In the main, these policy fluctuations reflect China's problem
of rationalizing Marxist and Maoist ideology with the more
practical considerations stemming from the relationship be
tween population and resources. When the more radical ele
ments were in control, the concept of overpopulation was re
jected, Malthusianism was attacked, and a large population was
supported with quotations from Marx and Mao. When the more
pragmatic leadership was in control, the Chinese media went
through verbal contortions to point out the problems of a large
and rapidly growing population without rejecting either Marx
or Mao. In the case of Mao this was very manageable. Since
Mao was prolific in his writings and fond of pointing out contra
dictions, appropriate quotations from him can be found to sup
port a variety of positions on innumerable subjects. Although
he had relatively little to say about population, he managed to
cover both sides of the issue. As a matter of fact, from Mao's
various writings and statements to visitors, one senses that
perhaps in this case he himself was truly in a quandary: while
not wanting to admit that population could be a problem, ines
capably he realized that it was. Although one of Mao's most
frequently cited statements optimistically holds that "of all
things in the world, people are the most precious," in time of
need quotations showing his concern about population are also
found and widely publicized. An example of vintage Mao is:
"Our large population is a good thing, but of course it also in-
