Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T20:25:36.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

FAR BELOW REPLACEMENT FERTILITY IN URBAN CHINA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

Zhongwei Zhao ,
Qinzi Xu  and
Xin Yuan
Zhongwei Zhao*
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and Nankai University, Tianjin, China
Qinzi Xu
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and Nankai University, Tianjin, China
Xin Yuan
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and Nankai University, Tianjin, China
*
1Corresponding author. Email: zhongwei.zhao@anu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

China’s urban population has experienced rapid fertility decline over the past six decades. This drastic change will have a significant impact on China’s demographic, social and economic future. However, the patterns and characteristics of urban China’s fertility decline have not been systematically examined. This study analyses the trends and age patterns of fertility in urban China since the 1950s, and summarizes the major characteristics of reproductive behaviours into four ‘lows’: extremely ‘low’ level of fertility; ‘low’ proportion of two and higher parity births; ‘low’ mean age at birth; and ‘low’ level of childlessness. The paper argues that the highly homogenous reproductive behaviours found in China’s now near 800 million urban population have been in part shaped by the country’s unprecedented government intervention in family planning. The ‘later, longer, fewer’ campaign in the 1970s and the ‘one-child’ policy, in particular, have left clear imprints on China’s reproductive norms and fertility patterns. The government-led family planning programme, however, has not been the only driving force of fertility decline. A wide range of social, economic, political and cultural changes have also affected the transition in family formation, reproductive behaviour and fertility patterns, and this has become increasingly prominent in the past two decades.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 49 , Special Issue S1: Low Fertility in Developing Countries: Causes and Implications , November 2017 , pp. S4 - S19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bureau of Statistics of Beijing (2012) Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of Beijing Municipality. Beijing Municipality complier and Office for the Sixth Population Census of Beijing Municipality, Beijing. China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Bureau of Statistics of Shanghai (2012) Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of Shanghai Municipality. Shanghai Municipality Complier and Office for the Sixth Population Census of Shanghai Municipality, Shanghai. China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Bureau of Statistics of Tianjin (2012) Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of Tianjin Municipality. Tianjin Municipality Complier and Office for the Sixth Population Census of Tianjin Municipality, Tianjin. China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Cai, Y. (2010) China’s below-replacement fertility: government policy or socioeconomic development? Population and Development Review 36, 419–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cao, G., Chen, G., Pang, L., Zheng, X. & Nilsson, S. (2011) Urban growth in China: past, prospect, and its impacts. Population and Environment 33(2/3), 137–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
China Data Center (2000a) 2000 Population Census Data Assembly Beijing. URL: http://chinadataonline.org/member/censusnew/yearbook/Aayearbook.aspx?ybcode=26C309C036BCF9C94594D5E5CB23344C&key=en Google Scholar
China Data Center (2000b) 2000 Population Census Data Assembly, Shanghai. URL: http://chinadataonline.org/member/censusnew/yearbook/Aayearbook.aspx?ybcode=26C309C036BCF9C98599F9146586D85F&key=en Google Scholar
China Data Center (2000c) 2000 Population Census Data Assembly, Tianjin. URL: http://chinadataonline.org/member/censusnew/yearbook/Aayearbook.aspx?ybcode=26C309C036BCF9C9DAD2B80E8559D3A5&key=en Google Scholar
Feeney, G. & Yu, J. (1987) Period parity progression measures of fertility in China. Population Studies 41, 77–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frejka, T., Jones, G. W. & Sardon, J. P. (2010) East Asian childbearing patterns and policy developments. Population and Development Review 36, 579–606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gu, B. & Wang, F. (eds) (2009) An Experiment of Eight Million People [in Chinese]. Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Gu, B., Wang, F., Guo, Z. & Zhang, E. (2007) China’s local and national fertility policies at the end of the twentieth century. Population and Development Review 33, 129–147.Google Scholar
Guo, Z. (2015) Qing Xing Ren Shi Zhong Guo Di Sheng Yu Lv Feng Xian [in Chinese]. International Economic Review 2, 100–119.Google Scholar
Guo, Z., Wu, Z., Schimmele, C. M. & Li, S. (2012) The effect of urbanization on China’s fertility. Population Research and Policy Review 31, 417–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavely, W. & Freedman, R. (1990) The origin of the Chinese fertility decline. Demography 27, 357–367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liang, Z., Li, Z. & Ma, Z. (2014) Changing patterns of the floating population in China, 2000–2010. Population and Development Review 40, 695–716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liang, Z. & Ma, Z. (2004) China’s floating population: new evidence from the 2000 census. Population and Development Review 30, 467–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, S. P., Zhigang, G. & Hayford, S. R. (2009) China’s below-replacement fertility: recent trends and future prospects. Population and Development Review 3, 605–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mu, G. (2013) China eases family planning policy. China Daily. URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2013-11/18/content_17111510.htm Google Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics (2015) National Bureau of Statistics of the Peoples Republic of China. URL: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjzs/cjwtjd/201308/t20130829_74322.html Google Scholar
Retherford, R. D., Choe, M. K., Chen, J. J., Li, X. R. & Cui, H. Y. (2005) How far has fertility in China really declined? Population and Development Review 31, 57–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tien, H. Y. (1983) Age at marriage in the Peoples Republic of China. China Quarterly 93, 90–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations (2013) World Marriage Data 2012. United Nations Publications, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.Google Scholar
United Nations (2014) World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision. United Nations Publications, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.Google Scholar
United Nations (2015) World Population Prospects 2015 Revision. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, United Nations Publications.Google Scholar
Wang, F., Cai, Y. & Gu, B. (2013) Population, policy, and politics: how will history judge China’s one‐child policy? Population and Development Review 38, 115–129.Google Scholar
Whyte, M. K., Wang, F. & Cai, Y. (2015) Challenging myths about China’s one-child policy. China Journal 74, 144–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yao, X. (1995) Fertility Data of China [in Chinese]. China Population Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Yin, W., Yao, Y. & Li, F. (2014) Evaluation of fertility levels and adjustment of fertility policy based on the current situation of the Chinese Mainland’s provincial fertility levels. China Social Sciences 35(2), 83–105.Google Scholar
Yu, J. & Xie, Y. (2013) Changes in the determinants of marriage entry in post-reform urban China. Paper presented at the Population Association of America Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2013.Google Scholar
Yu, J. & Xie, Y. (2015) Cohabitation in China: trends and determinants. Population and Development Review 41, 607–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeng, Y. (2000) Marriage patterns in contemporary China. In Peng, X. & Guo, Z. (eds) The Changing Population of China. Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Zeng, Y. & Vaupel, J. W. (1989) The impact of urbanization and delayed childbearing on population growth and aging in China. Population and Development Review 15, 425–445.Google Scholar
Zhang, Q. (1988) Basic facts on the household registration system. Chinese Economic Studies 22, 1–106.Google Scholar
Zhang, G. & Gu, B. (2007) Recent changes in marriage patterns. In Zhao, Z. & Guo, F. (eds) Transition and Challenge: China’s Population at the Beginning of the 21st Century. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.Google Scholar
Zhao, Z. (1997) Deliberate birth control under a high-fertility regime: reproductive behaviour in China before 1970. Population and Development Review 23, 729–767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Z. (2001) Registered households and micro-social structure in China: residential patterns in three settlements in Beijing area. Journal of Family History 26, 39–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Z. (2015) Closing a sociodemographic chapter of Chinese history. Population and Development Review 41, 681–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, Y. (2000) In situ urbanization in rural China: case studies from Fujian Province. Development and Change 31, 413–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, G. & Gu, B. (2007) Recent changes in marriage patterns. In Zhao, Z. & Guo, F. (eds) Transition and Challenge: China’s Population at the Beginning of the 21st Century. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.Google Scholar