Population Theory in China

Professor Ma Yinchu’s New Population Theory was widely criticised and discredited in the early years of the People’s Republic of China. However, in 1979, the Chinese government began to accept his hypothesis that the country could not afford more than a 2% increase in population and agreed that the population must be controlled. As a result, the government began setting out campaigns to promote single-child families and measures to curb fertility in an attempt to reduce the rate of natural births. First published in 1980, H. Yuan Tien’s study demonstrates the major changes that took place in China in 1979, how the acceptance of New Population Theory affected the country as a whole and what policies were likely to be put into place as an after-effect. This title will be of interest to students of Asian Studies and International Politics.