Contents:
Introduction
1. Levels of Understanding
2. Moral and Cultural Dimensions
3. Information and Sources
Policy Formulation
4. Motives and Goals of Chinese Birth Control
5. Phases of One-Child Policy and its Forerunners
Bureaucratic Implementation
6. Legal Norms and Practice in Flux
7. Problems of Organization
8. Planning and Evaluation
Popular Response
9. Gender Roles, Family Size and Sex Preferences
10. Strategies and Evidences of Non-Compliance
Demographic Results
11. Female Marriage Trends
12. Fertility Levels
13. Changes in Sex and Age Structure
Conclusions and Future Perspectives
14. Looking Back: Causal Structures and Policy Impact
15. Looking Forward: Demographic Projections and Their Implications
16. Weighing the Options: Past Experience and New Ideas
Epilogue: The Population Census of November of 2000

This comprehensive volume analyzes Chinese birth policies and population developments from the founding of the People's Republic to the 2000 census. The main emphasis is on China's 'Hardship Number One Under Heaven': the highly controversial one-child campaign, and the violent clash between family strategies and government policies it entails. Birth Control in China 1949-2000 documents an agonizing search for a way out of predicament and a protracted inner Party struggle, a massive effort for social engineering and grinding problems of implementation. It reveals how birth control in China is shaped by political, economic and social interests, bureaucratic structures and financial concerns. Based on own interviews and a wealth of new statistics, surveys and documents, Thomas Scharping also analyzes how the demographics of China have changed due to birth control policies, and what the future is likely to hold. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of modern China, Asian studies and the social sciences.

This comprehensive volume analyzes Chinese birth policies and population developments from the founding of the People's Republic to the 2000 census. The main emphasis is on China's 'Hardship Number One Under Heaven': the highly controversial one-child campaign, and the violent clash between family strategies and government policies it entails. Birth Control in China 1949-2000 documents an agonizing search for a way out of predicament and a protracted inner Party struggle, a massive effort for social engineering and grinding problems of implementation. It reveals how birth control in China is shaped by political, economic and social interests, bureaucratic structures and financial concerns. Based on own interviews and a wealth of new statistics, surveys and documents, Thomas Scharping also analyzes how the demographics of China have changed due to birth control policies, and what the future is likely to hold. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of modern China, Asian studies and the social sciences.