A Different View of China
by Simon Mollison
I am frequently reminded of how negatively China’s family planning policy is viewed by the rest of the world, even including many people who share our views. Having fairly recently had the good fortune to work for two years in a corner of rural China, I would like to offer a different perspective.
The phrase ‘one-child policy’ is misleading, and the Chinese themselves don’t use it. In the cohort of 119 students – born around 1985 - that I knew best, just three were only children. The average size of their families [ie the number of siblings] was 2.7, and of their parents’ families was 5.25. They accepted that as future teachers, obliged to set a good example, they would only be allowed to have one child; though there was some hope that a future relaxation of policy would allow them to have two. I gathered that there is significant variation in the way that local authorities enforce family planning policy [this must explain why, in such a vast country, it is easy for journalists to find over-zealous authorities to provide horror stories of forced abortions etc.]. The general rule is for limits of one child for urban couples, two for peasant farmers and two or more for non-urbanised ‘ethnic minority’ couples. That seems fair to me, as it does to the Chinese that I discussed it with.
None of the Chinese colleagues that I knew had more than one child; and these only children were greatly cherished, though not spoilt in the way that many must be in the more developed parts of the country. Party members were especially obliged to follow the government’s policy. No one gave any hint of resentment at this policy. People simply accepted that the policy existed for good reason and that as responsible citizens it would be wrong to disregard it.
I think that these colleagues would be baffled by all our talk of ‘coercion’. They tend to have attitudes which we regard as old fashioned, including a belief that people who behave in an anti-social manner, whether by stealing, embezzling or having too many children should expect to suffer severe penalties. In a society in which people are accustomed to paying more attention to fulfilling their social obligations than insisting on their personal rights, there is little need for coercion in implementing a policy designed for the general good. To be part of such a society for a while was a joy and a privilege.
In my view, outsiders are right to be critical of some aspects of Chinese government policy, but as regards population policy it deserves almost unreserved praise and the gratitude of present and future generations throughout the world.
Thank you to the Jackdaw, an Optimum Population Trust Publication for this article from the February 2010 Edition.
