U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service PERSPECTIVE SERIES CHINESE STATE BIRTH PLANNING IN THE 1990s AND BEYOND [PS/CHN/01.001] SEPTEMBER 2001 DISTRIBUTED BY: PRODUCED BY: INS RESOURCE INFORMATION CENTER SUSAN GREENHALGH, Ph.D. 425 I STREET, N.W. PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, (ULLICO BUILDING, 3RD FLOOR) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20536 EDWIN A. WINCKLER, Ph.D. RESEARCH ASSOCIATE OF THE EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY All sources of information contained in this document are identified and are publicly available. Form M-531 (09/28/01) (this page intentionally left blank) DISCLAIMER The July 27, 1990 Regulations, “Aliens and Nationality: Asylum and Withholding of Deportation Procedures,” mandated the creation of a new corps of Asylum Officers to provide an initial, nonadversarial adjudication of asylum claims. Asylum Officers use asylum law, interviews with asylum applicants, and relevant information on country conditions to determine the merits of individual claims for asylum. As specified in the Regulations (8 CFR 208.12), as amended, such information may be obtained from “the Department of State, the Office of International Affairs, other Service offices, or other credible sources, such as international organizations, private voluntary agencies, news organizations, or academic institutions.” Perspective series reports are one means by which information on human rights conditions in a country and/or conditions affecting given groups or individuals deemed “at risk” within a given country is presented to Asylum and Immigration Officers. These reports are descriptions of conditions in countries based on information provided by the sources referred to above. They are prepared by expert consultants and/or the staff of the Resource Information Center, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice. This paper was researched and written by Susan Greenhalgh, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Irvine and Edwin A. Winckler, Research Associate of the East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Edwin Winckler translated the Fujian Birth Planning Regulations in Appendix Three from Chinese to English. Perspectives cannot be, and do not purport to be either exhaustive with regard to the country surveyed, or conclusive as to the merits of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. The inclusion of this paper in the Perspective Series compiled by the Service does not constitute an endorsement of the information in the paper. The views expressed in the paper, therefore, do not necessarily represent statements of policy of the United States Government, nor does this paper reflect foreign policy concerns of the United States Government. The authors wish to thank Wendy Zeldin of the Library of Congress and Diana Perry-Elby of the State Department for their helpful comments on an earlier draft. They also acknowledge, with gratitude, the assistance of librarians at Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, and Yale Universities, the University of Michigan, and the University of California at Irvine and San Diego. Research for this paper was completed in September 2000. iii (this page intentionally left blank) TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................xiii PREFACE: SOURCES AND USAGES.............................................................................. xix I. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: CHINESE POLICY AND PROGRAM ENFORCEMENT ....................................................................................1 A. INTRODUCTION: CORE FEATURES .............................................................................. 2 B. PROGRAM RULES: STRINGENT BY ANY STANDARD .............................................. 4 (a) Marriage and first child ................................................................................................. 4 (b) First child and contraception ......................................................................................... 5 (c) Second child and sterilization........................................................................................ 7 C. THREE KINDS OF COMPLIANCE MECHANISMS: FROM SOFT SELL TO HARD PRESSURE ............................................................................................................ 9 (a) Propaganda-and-education, routine and campaign style ............................................... 9 (b) Economic incentives and penalties.............................................................................. 12 (c) Administrative means: Administrative punishments and criminal sanctions............. 15 D. 1990s INNOVATIONS: STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT ................................... 17 (a) Strengthening institutions to strengthen enforcement ................................................. 17 (b) Increasing incentives to improve compliance ............................................................. 18 (c) Improving information to enhance control.................................................................. 19 E. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: LOCAL RESISTANCE AND HUMAN COSTS .................................... 21 A. INTRODUCTION: THE NEED TO CONTEXTUALIZE THE MEDIA STORIES .... 22 B. POPULAR REPRODUCTIVE DESIRES: LOW BUT STILL ABOVE STATE DEMANDS .............................................................................................................................. 22 (a) Rural fertility aspirations: Two is best, a son is essential........................................... 22 (b) Urban fertility aspirations: One is enough.................................................................. 24 (c) The paradox of compliance despite unfulfilled desires............................................... 25 C. THE POLITICS OF RESISTANCE: FROM COVERT TO OVERT, INDIVIDUAL TO COLLECTIVE ....................................................................................... 26 (a) Covert individual resistance by ordinary citizens........................................................ 27 (b) Covert individual resistance by cadres........................................................................ 28 (c) Overt collective politics............................................................................................... 29 v D. THE HUMAN COSTS OF STATE BIRTH PLANNING.................................................. 31 (a) Women’s physical and emotional well-being.............................................................. 32 (b) The treatment and survival of infant girls ................................................................... 35 (c) The fate of “unplanned” children ................................................................................ 38 E. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 39 II. NATIONAL POLICY AND PROGRAM PERFORMANCE CHAPTER 3: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE 1990S ..................................... 41 A. INTRODUCTION: BIRTH PLANNING IN THE 1960s AND 1970s ............................. 42 B. CONTINUITIES IN POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY ...................... 44 (a) Number of children...................................................................................................... 44 (b) Timing of childbearing................................................................................................ 45 (c) Mixed implementation................................................................................................. 46 C. EARLY 1990s ADMINISTRATIVE RATIONALIZATION: DEEPENING THE STATIST APPROACH................................................................................................. 46 (a) 1989-1993: Strong Re-enforcement ........................................................................... 47 (b) From 1993: Routinization .......................................................................................... 48 (c) From 1995: Collateralization and Incentivization...................................................... 49 D. SPROUTS OF LIBERALIZATION: “MAKING PEOPLE THE CORE”..................... 50 (a) From 1995: Internationalization ................................................................................. 51 (b) From 1998: Toward quality of care............................................................................ 52 (c) From 1998: Liberalization of planning....................................................................... 54 E. CONCLUSION: FUTURE PROSPECTS .......................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4: NATIONAL POPULATION CHANGE AND PROGRAM PERFORMANCE ................................................................................ 59 A. INTRODUCTION: THE DECLINING QUALITY OF CHINESE POPULATION STATISTICS........................................................................................................................... 60 B. BASIC DEMOGRAPHY: BIG CHANGES WITH COMPLEX CAUSES..................... 61 (a) Population size and growth rate................................................................................... 62 (b) Total Fertility Rate (TFR) ........................................................................................... 63 (c) Socioeconomic development, program effort, and fertility change............................