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Cited by 185Demographic Trends and Gender PreferencesChina's Socioeconomic Reforms and GovernanceHistorical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

Challenging Myths About China’s One-Child Policy

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Whyte, Martin King, Feng, Wang, Cai, Yong·2015·The China Journal
DOI 10.1086/681664PMC PMC6701844
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Abstract

China's controversial one-child policy continues to generate controversy and misinformation. This essay challenges several common myths: that Mao Zedong consistently opposed efforts to limit China's population growth; that as a result China's population continued to grow rapidly until after his death, necessitating the switch to mandatory and coercive birth limits; that the launching of the one-child policy in 1980 led to a dramatic decline in China's fertility rate; and that due to the one-child policy, China and the world benefited from 400 million births that were thereby prevented. Evidence is presented contradicting each of these claims: that Mao Zedong at times forcefully advocated strict limits on births and presided over a major switch from voluntary to coercive birth planning after 1970 (not 1980); that as much as 3/4 of the decline in fertility in China since 1970 occurred prior to the launching of the one-child policy; that fertility levels fluctuated and even rose in some years after the one-child policy was launched; and that most of the further decline in Chinese fertility since 1980 can be attributed to economic development, not to coercive enforcement of birth limits.

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  • Mass mobilization with high-pressure tactics, coupled with delivery of effective contraceptives, led to a fertility reduction of 50% in eight years, from 5.8 children per woman in 1970 to 2.8 in 1977.

    “Mass mobilization with high-pressure tactics, coupled with delivery of effective contraceptives, led to a fertility reduction of 50% in just eight short years, from 5.8 children per woman in 1970 to 2.8 in 1977 (Whyte et al. 2015).”

    From The Social and Sociological Consequences of China's One-Child Policy (2021) · cites this paper as Whyte et al. 2015

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  • The one-child policy was launched at a time of economic and social liberalizations and when China's birth control had already achieved remarkable successes.

    “One major puzzle over China's one-child policy is that it was launched at the time of economic and social liberalizations (White 2007) and when China's birth control had already achieved remarkable successes (Whyte et al. 2015).”

    From The Social and Sociological Consequences of China's One-Child Policy (2021) · cites this paper as Whyte et al. 2015

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Authors
Whyte, M. K., Feng, W., & Cai, Y.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
ORCID
Venue
The China Journal
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Published
2015-07
Volume
74
Pages
144-159
ISSN
  • 1324-9347 (ISSN-L)
  • 1835-8535
DOI
10.1086/681664
PMC
PMC6701844
OpenAlex
W2267037000
Cited by
185
References
12
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8
FWCI
21.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The China Journal (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD050924)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes
Keywords
one-child policy, population control, Mao Zedong, fertility decline, fertility fluctuations, economic development and fertility

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