Strict Enforcement: China's One-Child Policy

China's one-child policy was a radical intervention by the government in the reproductive lives of its citizens. Implemented in 1980, the policy was enforced through a variety of methods, including financial incentives, fines, and preferential employment opportunities for those who complied, as well as forced abortions, sterilizations, and IUD insertions. The policy was particularly aggressively enforced in Linyi, where family planning officials would kidnap those who tried to have two children or their elder relatives, forcing them to stand in cold water. The one-child policy was enforced at the provincial level, and rural families were more difficult to convince, with some peasants needing children to support them in old age. The policy ended in 2016, with all couples being allowed to have two children as of 2024.

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Financial incentives and penalties

China's one-child policy was enforced using a combination of financial incentives and penalties. The policy was implemented to curb the country's rapid population growth, and families were incentivized to comply with financial rewards and preferential employment opportunities. Those who complied with the policy received financial incentives, while those who violated it were subject to fines, known as "social maintenance fees" or "social child-raising fees". These fines were calculated based on the family's income and other factors, such as the number of children. For example, in Guangdong, the fee was between three and six annual incomes for incomes below the district's per capita income, plus one to two times the annual income exceeding the average.

The National Population and Family Planning Commission, under the central government, managed the one-child policy since 1981. Population and Family Planning Commissions existed at every level of government to raise awareness, carry out registration, and conduct inspections. The enforcement of the policy was particularly challenging in rural areas, where families were more reluctant to comply. As a result, local authorities in these areas relied heavily on fines for higher-order births and stringent birth control campaigns, which often resulted in women being pressured into abortions and sterilisation.

The one-child policy had far-reaching consequences for Chinese society, and its legacy continues to be felt even after its official end in 2016. The policy resulted in a skewed sex ratio, with a substantially greater number of males than females, and it also contributed to a shrinking workforce. The Chinese government has since implemented measures to increase the national birth rate, including parental tax deductions, family leave, housing subsidies, and increased spending on reproductive health and childcare services.

Contraception and birth control

The National Family Planning Committee developed the slogan 'Wan Xi Shao' ('later, longer, and fewer'), which was in effect from 1973 to 1979. This campaign encouraged later marriages, longer intervals between births, and smaller families. The government believed that spacing births more adequately would allow families to allocate more resources per child, resulting in better health and education outcomes.

In 1983, a massive sterilisation campaign was initiated, in which couples with two or more children were required to undergo sterilisation, while those with one child were strongly encouraged to do so. During this campaign, 16 million women were sterilised, often through tubectomy, and over 4 million vasectomies were performed. By 1985, IUDs and sterilisation constituted 85% of all contraceptive use in China.

Health centres played a significant role in promoting contraception by distributing various forms of contraceptives at no cost, which made protected sex more prevalent than unprotected sex. The government also offered free access to birth control supplies, IUDs, and sterilisation procedures as incentives for complying with the one-child policy.

However, there were challenges to effective family planning, especially in rural areas, due to the poor quality and limited choice of contraceptives. In the early years of the policy, there were also reports of women being pressured or bullied into abortions and sterilisation.

Forced abortions and sterilizations

China's one-child policy, introduced in 1979, drastically reshaped the country's demographic makeup. The policy was enforced through contraception, abortion, and fines based on family income.

Abortion was used as a method to uphold the one-child policy. Women who already had children were sometimes forced to undergo abortions for subsequent pregnancies, administered by officials who felt they were performing their duty to uphold the policy. In 2005, pregnant women in Linyi with two children were rounded up for abortions, and their relatives were jailed if they tried to hide. In some cases, forced abortions were carried out by staff with little or no medical training, leading to various side effects.

Sterilization was also used as a common method to ensure the one-child policy was upheld. In rural areas, there was particular resistance to sterilization, as sons were desired to work on and inherit farmland. Women who refused sterilization were sometimes forced, and officials would bulldoze homes and arrest family members until the women came forward.

The one-child policy led to an acute gender imbalance, with China now having 30 million more men than women. This has resulted in a surplus of "guang guan" or "broken branches," referring to single men unable to find brides. The policy also contributed to female infanticide and sex-selective technologies to ensure male children. The Nobel economist Amartya Sen estimated that there were about 100 million missing women across Asia due to sex-selective abortions.

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Propaganda and education

The Chinese government used pervasive propaganda campaigns to promote the one-child policy and encourage compliance. Propaganda took many forms and targeted a wide range of age demographics. Children born during this time were exposed to new societal expectations through educational programs that promoted the one-child policy and the importance of family planning and birth control. Young teenagers were required to read Renkou Jiayu (1981), which emphasised the importance of family planning and birth control measures to ensure the stability of the nation.

The one-child campaign extensively used propaganda posters, often featuring smiling children with slogans such as "Having only one child is good". Other slogans included "Villagers who want to get rich: have fewer children but grow more trees", used in the countryside to illustrate the benefits of having fewer children. Variations included "have fewer children but raise more pigs". Another slogan emphasised the duty of citizens to follow the birth control policy: "Implementing family planning is in the interest of the country, people, and posterity". Similar versions included "Fewer and better births, a service to the nation" and "Carry out family planning, implement the basic national policy".

The younger generation became the main target audience for much of the propaganda as the one-child policy continued, as they made up a large portion of the population that would contribute to continued growth if no policy was put in place. The slogans encapsulated three key principles: marrying later (wan, 晚), spacing pregnancies farther apart (xi, 稀), and having fewer children (shao, 少). The "later, longer, fewer" campaign was emblematic of China's national campaign of mandatory birth planning. The Chinese government aimed to reduce population growth by promoting guidelines for birth control and family planning. The government believed that having fewer children and spacing births more adequately would allow families to allocate more resources per child, resulting in better health and education outcomes for children.

The one-child policy was also enforced through financial incentives for families in compliance, contraceptives, and sexual education, which increased awareness of contraceptive measures among groups of China's young population, further lowering the birth rate. However, millions of Chinese also had to endure forced sterilisations and abortions.

Enforcement by officials

The enforcement of the one-child policy in China was managed by the National Population and Family Planning Commission under the central government. The policy was enforced at the provincial level through contraception, abortion, and fines that were imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. Population and Family Planning Commissions existed at every level of government to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work.

The one-child policy was enforced by officials through a variety of methods, including financial incentives for families in compliance, contraceptives, forced sterilizations, and forced abortions. Families who had more than one child had to pay a ""social maintenance fee" or a "social child-raising fee", sometimes called a "family planning fine" in the West. The amount of the fine was based on the income of the family and other factors.

In rural areas, enforcement of the policy was more uneven, and local authorities relied heavily on fines for higher-order births. Village-level family planning workers faced challenges in balancing the state's demands with the resistance of their friends and neighbours. Some rural families, especially peasants, were more challenging to convince due to their need for sons to support them in old age and provide pensions. As a result, local authorities in rural areas also resorted to stringent birth control campaigns, which led to many women being pressured into abortions and sterilisation.

In some cases, enforcement by officials was aggressive and violent, with stories of forced abortions and botched sterilisations. In Linyi, residents reported that officials would kidnap those who tried to have two children or their elder relatives, holding them hostage and subjecting them to harsh treatment.

The enforcement of the policy began to loosen in the early 2000s due to the horrific consequences and human rights violations associated with it. However, starting in 2005, the authorities in Linyi began enforcing the policy with renewed vigour, leading to a class-action lawsuit that resulted in an apology from the authorities and a reduction in the most extreme enforcement tactics.

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