人民日報《the Global Times》承認中國強製墮胎

人民日報旗下全國性英文日報《The Global times》是《環球時報》（中國發行量最大的日報之一）英文版，是繼China daily （中國日報）之後中國第二份麵向全國（以及海外地區）發行的英語綜合性報紙。

2010年4月15日的《The Global times》發表了對我的采訪文章《Baby steps》（http://special.globaltimes.cn/2010-04/522268.html），其中第4、5頁是采訪我的內容，篇首的強製墮胎的案例是我表弟媳肖芳梅。該文圖片是計劃外出生的一對雙胞胎，為了逃避計生員的檢查，父親聞風用其謀生的工具，把孩子匆匆運走躲避。中國計生委以前對國際社會一直宣稱中國計劃生育是自願的，不存在強製墮胎。但這次《The Global times》卻向英文讀者承認了強製墮胎（這應該是中國官方媒體第一次報道）。



2006年我表弟和他太太肖芳梅因為沒有辦理準生證而懷孕頭胎（並不算超生，其實他們也不想多生）。我給我父母打電話的時候，我舅舅剛好在我家，他說他兒媳隻差幾天就要生孩子了，我向他表示祝賀。我表弟的戶口是在湖南省懷化市下屬的洪江市塘灣鎮，而我表弟媳的戶口在湖南省邵陽市下屬洞口縣，孕婦躲在湖南省邵陽市下屬綏寧縣，但還是被塘灣鎮幹部偵查到（不知通過何種渠道），出動近百人、十部左右車，輾轉兩個地區的三個縣（從此可見計劃生育的行政成本之高），深夜將孕婦抓到塘灣鎮，當時已經臨產，緊急運往縣人民醫院進行墮胎，未打麻藥，直接從腹部注射到胎兒頭部處死胎兒。並下文高調宣傳。

2006年的時候人民日報另一個記者以及國家發改委《改革內參》編輯和記者就知道了此事。這次人民日報記者一再要采訪報道。

《The Global times》在做這篇報道的時候，他們領導非常慎重，因為畢竟是第一次進行類似報道，反複修改、刪減。這篇報道是公正、負責的，尺度也比較大（比如報道了我明確提出要“立即高調停止計劃生育”的觀點）。說明國內輿論不再忌諱計劃生育，也說明對於停止計劃生育是有信心的（不再遮遮掩掩了）。停止計劃生育已經時不我待了，輿論應該趁早轉向，才能聚集民意，便於順勢而下。


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下麵是《Baby steps》譯文：

記者：李筱姝


胎兒在踢著她的肚皮，懷孕九個多月的肖芳梅慌張地翻身躲入床下，因為門外有五位大漢夤夜來訪。

門“碰”地一聲被撞開。

“滾出來，你們沒有準生證，不準生育。” 一位計生辦工作人員衝著肖芳梅和她的丈夫吼叫。

盡管肖鳳梅拚命地抓住任何能抓住的東西，還是被四條壯漢拽住頭發，生生地拖了出來。他們將肖芳梅舉起，摔到門前的石頭地上。

肖鳳梅用盡全身氣力，爬起來向外跑去。但她卻正好撞上了一輛計生委等在這裏的麵包車的尾部。

肖鳳梅醒來時她已經在綏寧縣的一棟政府大樓，綏寧隸屬湖南省邵陽市。然後被送往計劃生育診所墮胎。

四年後的今天，想起當初那個被強行引產的恐怖之夜，肖鳳梅仍泣不成聲。

“他們摁住我的手，沒有打麻藥，就給我注射毒針將孩子打出來。”她對環球時報說，“非常粗暴，非常疼痛。”

事過境遷，肖鳳梅總結到，早知如此，她當年就不應該挑戰這個已經被大家接受了的“利國利民” 的基本國策。

“其實，一個兒子也挺好。”她說。

在國際控製人口的思潮推動下，中國從1979年之後實行獨生子女政策。肖芳梅的經曆是這個時代的縮影。

1974年在布加勒斯特召開的第三次世界人口大會上通過了《世界人口行動計劃》，提出個人的生殖行為應該與社會的需求相協調。

中國社科院人口研究所研究員李小平對環球時報說：“諸如肖芳梅般林林總總各色事件說明了人口增長與發展政策之間的衝突。”

李小平說：作為世界上人口最多的國家，中國付出了很大代價才認識到追求更美好生活的含義。

“我們不應該將中國麵臨的困境簡單化，任何國家都發現，控製人口是艱巨的。”


呼喚重新審視

違反生育政策的人要繳納“社會撫養費”，有時是個人年收的十倍，這樣才能給計劃外出生的孩子上戶口。有了戶口，才能享受到諸如教育，醫療、社會福利之類的公共服務。

不願或不能繳納罰款的家庭有的離鄉背井遠走他方；有的將孩子藏起，變成所謂的“黑人”。不願意這麽做的家庭則麵臨與計生部門的正麵交鋒，計生部門會對他們進行各種“勸告”：從較文明的誘哄，到各種罰款，再到令西方媒體詫舌的暴力。

三十年過去了，許多人開始悄悄地質疑，中國的計生政策究竟該持續多久。

第六次人口普查領導小組組長、副總理李克強1月19日說：“中國應該實行從人口控製到發展的轉變”。對人口政策新政的猜測隨之而生。

事實上，1980年，在中共中央的一封公開信中，當局曾經許諾，“三十年後，人口增長過快的壓力得到緩解，就可以采取不同的生育政策了。”經濟學家胡鞍鋼如是表示。胡鞍鋼十年前支持一胎化，但是最近他華麗轉身了。

他說：“中國應該盡速調整生育政策，獲取人力資源的長期紅利。否則，政府會麵臨越來越多的困難。”

“但是，政治慣性很可能碾碎這個機會。”

計生委副主任趙白鴿二月四日宣稱：“十二五期間（2011-2015），中國將堅持計劃生育政策不動搖。”

趙白鴿在哥本哈根氣候會議上說：中國減少了四億人口，每年可減排1800噸二氧化碳。

在接受環球時報采訪時，計生委發言人拒絕評論計生政策是否會有實質性調整。


秘密試點

25年前，山西南部臨汾下轄的翼城縣，進行了一項秘密的人口試驗。符合特定的家庭可以生兩個孩子。

實驗的設計者是人口學家梁中堂。1985年，在一次會議上，翼城計生委前主任馮才山，對梁中堂表示了憂慮，他擔心試驗會失控，因為農民總是多生。

最終是當時的黨首胡耀邦一槌定音。他移讚梁中堂的方案：“做過深入的調查研究，富有智慧。”胡的唯一要求是：不要公開。

梁中堂解釋道：之所以挑選翼城是因為：翼城是一個典型的農業縣，收入中等，人口統計準確。

翼城不同的生育政策有嚴格的條件：婚齡須比全國平均水平高三歲，兩胎之間必須差六歲以上；生育二胎後女方必須絕育。

今天全縣人口有317,000人，比1985年的27800增長了14%，男女性別比為：104/100。遠比全國平均的119/100要正常。

大約12.5%的家庭選擇隻生一胎，80%的二女戶選擇不再生育。

常茂春（音）是翼城縣人旺村（音）農民，他說：生多了也養不起，尤其是男孩。從2000年開始，該縣生育率持續下降到10/1000，接近人口零增長。

梁中堂對環球時報說：“這證明了，允許生兩胎不會出現人口膨脹”。

“翼城的二胎模式隻是對國家強硬政策的妥協，其實允許人們自主決定生育數量更合理，更人道。”

梁中堂警告說：持續增長的老齡人口、不健全的社會保障、不斷萎縮的年輕勞動力是國家未來的“定時炸彈”。


掀起討論

易富賢，威斯康星大學（麥迪遜分校）婦產科係的中國學者，多年來堅持不懈地呼籲停止計劃生育。

易富賢將所有業餘時間用來研究中國人口問題。自2002年以來他持續在中國各大論壇上發表自己的研究成果。他說：多數文章都被“審查”過。

易富賢對環球時報說，計劃生育造成的人口損失超過曆史上任何一次戰爭。

他說：“應該立刻高調廢除計劃生育。”

“中國瀕臨人口負增長。每年出生的人口數被虛增了50%，總和生育率被篡改為1.8，即便如此，仍然低於世代更替水平2.1。”（易富賢注：其實中國的時代更替水平是2.3以上，但可能為了讓英文讀者更容易理解，記者采納了發達國家的2.1）

易富賢勇敢的非主流觀點漸漸獲得了大陸主流媒體的承認，掀起了第一波討論高潮。新華社采訪了他，三大國家官方網站在2004年對他開綠燈，允許他自由地發表觀點。

但是，易富賢的觀點與國家人口發展戰略組的觀點相抵觸。這個官方研究團隊由一批高官和學者領導，如蔣正華（曾於1991-1992年任計生委副主任），宋健（現行計生政策總設計師）。

“中國人口總量將於2010年達到13.6億，於2033年達到15億的峰值。” 國家人口發展戰略組的報告說：“應該執行更嚴格的計劃生育政策，將總和生育率控製在1.8。”

國家人口發展戰略組的結論不但沒有使計生政策放鬆，反而收緊了。

易富賢說：“令人遺憾的是：中央政府錯過了調整人口政策的最佳時機，使得今後麵臨巨大危機。”

“官僚主義慣性保護了計生體製。上次他們贏了。”

易富賢的書《大國空巢—走入歧途的中國計劃生育》一度被禁。但是2008年中期以來，漸漸在許多的國家部委裏獲得認同，尤其是國家統計局。

“從反饋回的消息看，決策層正在重新考慮計劃生育政策。”他說。

2008年易富賢通過互聯網向溫家寶總理上書，痛陳廢除計劃生育政策的緊迫性，但未獲回應。

2010年的兩會期間，易富賢加大了遊說力度。他向兩千多名人大代表及數百名政協委員寄出了信件及宣傳資料。

中國女富豪張茵、重慶外科醫生田伏洲聯名至少三名學者，在今年兩會上呼籲放開二胎。

麵對洶洶民意，計生專家主張保持計劃生育政策的連續性。他們說突然的政策轉向“太過危險。”

中國人民大學人口統計學家侯東民表示：“如果不加控製，中國資源與環境無法負擔人口自然增長。”

重要的是保持政策連續性，侯東民警告說：“步子太快會造成混亂。”

中國社科院馬克思主義研究所主任程恩富說：強有力的計劃生育政策保護了世界上人口最多的國家。沒有計劃生育，就沒有中國GDP的快整增長，及人均財富的迅速提高。

國務院參事馬力表示：普遍地放鬆生育限製，目前條件還不成熟。


權利與方式

計生委副主任趙白鴿在1月15日在新聞發布會上表示：“中國的計劃生育政策不是強迫性的，人們是在自願的基礎上實施計劃生育的。”但是計生委也承認：在執行過程中有偏差。

官方媒體曾經報道：2004年下半年，山東臨沂計生人員非法強迫婦女流產、結紮。

揭露臨沂暴行的陳光誠曾被軟禁，並被沂南縣人民法院（以故意破壞財產和聚眾擾亂交通罪）判處有期徒刑四年零三個月（易富賢注：陳光誠入選美國時代周刊2006年“塑造世界的一百人”，獲得英國查禁目錄頒發的言論自由獎，並獲得由紐約“洛克菲勒兄弟基金會”的信托人創立，2007年的麥格塞塞獎——“突出表現領袖”）。據國家計生委的消息，臨沂暴行的涉案官員於2006年受到懲罰。

北京人權活動人士及律師滕彪表示：“國家利益的實現不能以犧牲基本人權為代價，世界人權宣言和中國憲法必須得到尊重。”

“對違法生育者罰款及人身威脅是2002年以後才合法化的。”

行政法權威湛中樂參與了中國計劃生育法的起草，他卻說：“計劃生育政策僅僅是鼓勵一對夫婦一個孩，並沒有強迫人們放棄生育權。”

“公民有權對違法的計生委及工作人員提起訴訟。違法行為是因為地方政府錯誤地設定生育配額。” 湛中樂說。

劉楠來是中國社科院人權研究中心副主任。他拒絕承認在麵臨空前人口壓力的國家裏人們有絕對的生育權力。

劉楠來表示：“談人權，不能離開特定社會的文化、政治及經濟條件。不承擔相應的責任，就不可能有相應的權利。”

“離開了社會大多數人的利益，片麵地強調生育權沒有意義。”

劉楠來表示：“聯合國人口與發展委員會的所有的報告中都指出：在計劃生育這類事情上，政府必須通盤考慮個人利益與集體意誌。”

貴州省一位從事計生工作八年的地方計生工作人員表示：他個人生活於“恥辱之中”。

他說：“我擔心，一旦人們開始痛恨這項政策，我將不可避免地成為替罪羊。”

翼城縣習河水村64歲的車玉蓮（音）從事計生工作四十多年了，她不同意上述看法，她說：“我經常被人罵‘死後斷香火’。盡管村民不理解計劃生育，但是，我對從事這項幫助別人生活得更好的事業仍感到榮幸。任何政策在執行中都不可能十全十美，我不後悔。”


中國人口政策的曆史延革：

1957年，在嬰兒潮的背景下，經濟學家馬寅初鼓吹“人口適度增長”，他警告“國家養不活巨量的人口。”領導層並不讚同他的看法。

1971年，國務院將人口計劃納入國家經濟計劃之中，鼓勵晚婚晚育。通過口號、電台、及政策宣講等方式進行宣傳。

1979年，幾個省開始明確推行“一胎化”生育政策。

1980年，中共中央發表致共產黨員共青團員的公開信，“一胎化”生育政策正式提升到國家層麵。

1981年，國家人口與計劃生育委員會成立。

1982年，“計劃生育”正式寫入憲法。

1984年，考慮到農村的勞力需求，生育政策得以修正。允許一女戶在保持一定的生育間隔條件下，生育二胎。嚴禁三胎或多胎。

1985-1989

對農村的生育限製逐步放鬆。“獨女戶”可以生育二胎。

1991年，中共中央、國務院下發文件，呼籲“全社會總動員”，重點在農村加緊貫徹計生政策。

2002年，計劃生育法頒布實行。

2009年，上海計生委鼓勵“雙獨”家庭生育二胎。


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下麵是《The Global times》報道的英文原文：

Baby steps

By Li Xiaoshu

Her baby kicking, nine months\' pregnant Xiao Fangmei rushed to hide under her bed when five men paid her a midnight visit.

The door was smashed open.

Get out! You can\'t have that unapproved girl! a family planning worker yelled at Xiao and her husband.

The other four strong men pulled Xiao out by her hair as she tried to clutch at anything solid. They lifted Xiao up, carried her out of the room and threw her down on the stony ground outside her front door.

Xiao summoned all her strength to stand up and run, but instead ran straight into the back of an official minibus parked outside.

She woke up in a government building in Suining, a county under the prefecture city of Shaoyang, Hunan Province, to be escorted to the family planning clinic.

Four years have passed since that fateful night, but Xiao still wept recalling the forced abortion.

They pressed my hands and gave me an injection with no anesthetic, she told the Global Times. It was tough and painful.

With hindsight, Xiao concluded that she should never have challenged a mutually beneficial State policy that most Chinese have accepted.

In fact, I feel good living with an only boy, she said.

Xiao\'s experience reflects an ambitious demographic engineering policy applied in the Chinese mainland since 1979 to limit all families to one child as part of an international population campaign for rapid socio-economic growth.

Individual reproductive behavior should be reconciled with the needs of society, declared the Plan of Action issued in August 1974 at the third World Population Conference held in Bucharest.

Incidents of the kind (suffered by Xiao) show the conflict between population variables and development policy, Li Xiaoping, a researcher at the Institute of Population Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing, told the Global Times.

As the world\'s most populated country, China paid a price to realize the aspiration for a better quality of life, Li said.

We can\'t simplify China\'s dilemma in this effort. Any state would have found the task very tough.


Call for review

Family planning policy violators pay a social compensation fee, sometimes 10 times a person\'s annual income, to register an additional child into China\'s residency system. A certificate of permanent residency is essential for any child hoping to obtain public services such as schooling, medical care or social welfare.

A family unwilling or unable to pay sometimes runs off or tries to hide their extra child perhaps going as far as creating an unregistered non person. Others stay where they are and risk a standoff with local family planning departments and their many and various approaches toward persuasion: from gentle cajoling through various financial threats to the Western media headline-grabbing extremes of violence.

Three decades on, many have quietly begun to question how much longer the policy should continue on the Chinese mainland.

Speculation over a new regime sprang up after Vice Premier Li Keqiang, head of the Sixth National Census, said on January 19 that China should switch from population control to development.

In fact as long back as September 1980, authorities vowed in an open letter issued by the Communist Party of China\'s Central Committee to adopt a different population policy 30 years later as long as the demographic tension of a runaway birth rate has been relieved, according to economist Hu Angang. Hu supported one child 10 years ago but lately has experienced a change of heart.

China should prompt an adjustment to gain long-term interest from its human resources, Hu said. Otherwise, the government will face more obstacles.

But it\'s very likely political inertia will quash that opportunity.

Vice Minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (NPFPC) Zhao Baige claimed that China will continue family planning policy during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period on February 4.

The nation has seen 400 million fewer births, resulting in 18 million fewer tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, she said at the Copenhagen summit on climate change.

A commission spokesperson declined to comment on whether there would be any substantial policy shift when reached by the Global Times.


Secret pilot

A secret pilot project - allowing families to have two children under certain specific circumstances - was authorized 25 years ago in Yicheng, a county in the prefecture-level city of Linfen in southern Shanxi Province.

At a meeting in 1985, Feng Caishan, former director of the Yicheng Population and Family Planning Commission, expressed worries to demographer Liang Zhongtang, initiator of the plan, that the experiment might run out of control as villagers tend to breed more.

The fears of the cadre were finally banished when told that the then Party chief Hu Yaobang supported Liang\'s experiment with the unusually swift response: well-researched and insightful. Hu\'s only requirement was not to publicize the decision.

Yicheng was chosen because it was a typical farming county with moderate incomes and clear population statistics, Liang explained.

The separate birth policy had rigorous rules: Couples must marry three years older than the national average and must also leave a six-year gap between their first and second child; women should accept sterilization after two births.

Today the county has a population of 317,000, 14 percent up the 1985 figure of 278,000, while the male-female birth ratio is 104:100. This compares favorably with 119:100 national figure.

Some 12.5 percent of the parents preferred to raise one child while 80 percent ended up with two daughters.

We don\'t have the financial capacity to rear many children, especially boys, said Chang Maochun, a farmer in the village of Renwang, Yicheng county.

Since 2000, the county\'s birth rate fell continuously to 10 per 1,000 people: nearly zero population growth.

This proves that there wouldn\'t be any population explosion even if people were allowed two children, Liang Zhongtang told the Global Times.

The Yicheng model was a compromise against the headstrong national practice. It\'s more reasonable and humane to let common people decide how many children they should have.

A growing, aging population with inadequate social security and a shrinking number of young workers was a time bomb for the nation, Liang warned.


Stirring debate

Yi Fuxian, a Chinese associate scientist at the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Wisconsin (Madison), is a tireless advocate of relaxation.

Yi uses every spare minute to research China\'s population and he started posting his findings on popular Internet bulletin boards on the Chinese mainland since 2002, although most were censored, he said.

The population control campaign outweighs any war in the number of lives lost, Yi told the Global Times.

It should be abandoned immediately, in a high-profile announcement, he said.

China\'s on the brink of negative population growth. Its total fertility rate (TFR) is falsified at 1.8 by adding an arbitrary 50 percent to the number of annual births, which is still below the sustainable replacement level of about 2.1.

Yi\'s brave unorthodoxy has slowly broken into mainstream mainland publications, creating the first stirrings of national debate. The Xinhua News Agency interviewed Yi and three State-owned websites gave him the green light to air his views almost freely in 2004.

However, Yi\'s views directly contradict the findings of a special research team led by prestigious officials and experts including Jiang Zhenghua, former vice minister of the NPFPC in 1991 to 1992 and Song Jian, architect of the current policy.

China\'s population will reach 1.36 billion in 2010 and peak at 1.5 billion in 2033, the team reported. The country should strictly carry out family planning to maintain its TFR at 1.8.

Their bold assertion actually intensified family planning measures rather than relaxing them.

It\'s a pity that the central government missed the best timing to curb the greatest trouble ahead, Yi said.

There is a bureaucratic machinery that protects the existing system. That definitely won.

Yi claimed his once-banned book A Big Country in an Empty Nest - The Wrong Direction of China\'s Birth Control Policy has gained gradual acceptance since mid-2008 in several government departments, particularly the National Bureau of Statistics.

My return signaled that the top leaders were reconsidering family planning, he said.

Yi mooted the urgency of abolishing the policy online to Premier Wen Jiabao in 2008, but received no reply.

He also ramped up lobbying efforts at the 2010 two sessions by sending letters and materials to more than 2,000 deputies of the National People\'s Congress and hundreds of members of the Chinese People\'s Political Consultative Conference.

China\'s wealthiest woman Zhang Yin and Tian Fuzhou, a Chengdu surgeon, along with at least three other scholars, appealed for a two-child transitional policy at the annual meeting.

A sudden reversal of policy is too dangerous, remaining the consistent counter argument of the opposing camp of mainstream family planning experts.

China\'s resources and environment cannot sustain natural population growth without administrative intervention, said Hou Dongmin, a demographer at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

The importance of maintaining a clear and consistent policy is critical, he warned. A great leap will produce chaos among the people, he said.

The policy had been highly effective in protecting the world\'s most populated country, said Cheng Enfu, director of the Academy of Marxism under CASS.

Without it, China couldn\'t have achieved its GDP boost and high allocation of resources per capita.

The country lacks the requisite conditions on the ground to relax planned birth on a macro scale, said Ma Li, a counselor to the State Council.


Rights and means

China\'s family planning policy is based on the people\'s will and is not compulsory, said NPFPC Vice Minister Zhao Baige at a press conference on January 15, but the commission also conceded inevitable wrongdoings in the field.

County family planning employees illegally coerced women to have abortions or undergo sterilizations since late 2004 in Linyi of southern Shandong Province, official media reported.

The activist who exposed the Linyi atrocity - Chen Guangcheng - was placed under house arrest, tried and sentenced to four years and three months\' imprisonment by a Linyi court in 2007. The Linyi officials responsible for this extreme policy were sacked in 2006, according to the NPFPC.

Policy makers shouldn\'t elevate the State interest at the expense of fundamental human rights, disrespecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution, said Teng Biao, a human rights activist and lawyer in Beijing.

Neither fines nor physical threats for policy violators were legitimized until 2002.

In contrast, Zhan Zhongle, an authority on administrative law who took part in drafting China\'s Population and Family Planning Law, said the policy merely encourages couples to bear one child and never imposed on people to give up their reproductive right.

Citizens are endowed with the power to sue law-breaking family planning commissions and personnel, most of who were under pressure to meet birth quotas set by local governments through improper means, Zhan said.

Liu Nanlai, deputy director of the Human Rights Research Center under CASS, rejected arguments for absolute reproductive right in a country facing unprecedented population crisis.

The concept of human right can\'t be upheld without considering the cultural, political and economic conditions in a particular society. No right will be accessible if commensurate responsibility is not taken, Liu said.

It\'s groundless to exaggerate the importance of reproductive right without respecting the interest of the social majority.

All reports from UN Conferences on Population and Development acknowledge that on issues such as birth control governments are responsible for matching individual benefits with the collective will, according to Liu.

A rural official with eight years\' family planning experience in Guizhou Province said he personally lives in shame.

I worry that if people start to hate the policy, then I will eventually become one of the scapegoats, he said.

A 40-year rural family planning worker in the village of Xiheshui in Yicheng county, disagreed.

I have frequently been cursed by villagers to \'die sonless\', said Che Yulian, 64. But it\'s my privilege to help people live better even if they might misunderstand the real intention of family planning. No policy is perfect in practice, and I don\'t regret it.

China\'s population policies: A timeline

1957

Economist Ma Yinchu (1882-1982) advocates policies to ensure appropriate population growth and warns that the country will face tremendous difficulty feeding its people in the context of a baby boom. Few in the leadership agree.

1971

The State Council incorporates population policies into national economic planning, encouraging late marriage and childbearing. The idea is propagated through slogans, radio programs and oral education.

1979

Several provinces start explicit one-child family planning initiatives.

1980

China\'s one-child family planning policy begins at national level as the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee sends an open letter to all members of the CPC and the Communist Youth League.

1981

National Population and Family Planning Commission is established.

1982

The Constitution stipulates that the State should promote jihua shengyu, literally planned birth that is today officially translated as family planning.

1984

After considering labor demand in the countryside, a modified policy is set forth, allowing certain couples who have only one daughter to have a second child with an appropriate gap between the two births. Three or more children are strongly discouraged.

1985-1989

The birth limit for rural couples is progressively relaxed and single-daughter households are permitted a second child.

1991

The State Council and the CPC Central Committee issue a document urging stepped up efforts to implement the policy, particularly in rural areas. They call for mobilization of all society.

2002

The Population and Family Planning Law comes into force.

2009

The Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission encourages young couples, if both are the only child, to have a second offspring.