3.Policies of Population Control

The population of the People's Republic of China has increased to a large number in 1919, when the country had 0.54 billion people, or a quarter of the world's population.As the Chinese government encouraged childbirth from the 1950s to the early 1970s, the Chinese population greatly increased to 0.8 billion by 1969.The significant growth of population made great pressure upon the economic and social development.In order to achieve a balance between population growth and the developments in economy, society, resources and environment, and to achieve the strategic goal of sustainability and to steadily improve Chinese people's living conditions, China began to take active measures to design and carry out the family planning policy(计划生育政策) systematically since the 1970s.In 1979, the Chinese government openly put forward with the policy of“one couple, one child.”The State Family Planning Commission (国家计划生育委员会)was set up in 1981, and it was officially proposed as the guideline of economic development that“the family planning policy is one of the basic policies of China and must be followed for a long time.”

As a basic national policy of China, family planning calls for delayed marriage and delayed childbirth as well as fewer and healthier births (少 生 优 生).The former means postponing marriage and childbirth and the latter refers to improving the quality of childbirth and one couple having one child.The policy needs to be carried out through a series of measures such as formulating the population plan, establishing the family planning offices, strengthening the research on demographic theories, conducting regular censuses and so on.Over the past 30 years, the implementation of the family planning policy has produced great effects:overmuch population growth was effectively controlled and the population growth rate (人 口 出 生 率)declined sharply. Women's fertility rate dropped from 25.83‰ in 1970 to 11.87‰ in 1989, and the natural population growth rate remained about 14‰in recent years, below the world's average.The family planning policy has helped in promoting social stability and sustainable development and improving the quality of the population.

In order to further ensure the carrying out of this basic national policy and ensure the stable, healthy and sustainable development of family planning, The Law on Population and Family Planning of the People's Republic of China (《中华人民共和国人口和计划生育法》), made on the basis of the past experiences in enforcing the policies of family planning and population control, was passed at the end of 2001 and came into effect on September 1,2002.

And eleven years later, on December 30,2013, opinions on“Adjusting and Improving the Family Planning Policy”(《关于调整完善生育政策的意见》)was issued by the CPC Central Comittee and the State Council, and many families began planning to have their second child.

New Words and Expressions

Exercise One

Directions:Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

1.China accounted for one fourth of the world's population in 1919.

2.The significant growth of population had little pressure upon economic and social development during the 1970s.

3.In 1970, the Chinese government started the policy of“one couple, one child.”

4.The family planning policy is one of the basic policies of China and has to be followed for a long time.

5.The population growth rate was on the sharp decline in the past 30 years.

Exercise Two

Directions:Answer the following questions.

1.What kind of organization was set up in 1981?

2.What kind of steps should be taken to carry out the family planning policy?

3.When was the Law on Population and Family Planning of the People's Republic of China passed?