Development
Practice has shown that China's population and family planning programme
has been crowned with success. But we should also clearly see that there
is still imbalance in development in various areas, instability in
fertility levels in many regions, and the high birth rate in others. The
working style and service level concerning family planning in most rural
regions, especially in some economically underdeveloped areas, remain to
be improved. In the process of establishing the socialist market economic
system, family planning work is faced with new situations and new
problems. There are also problems in the quality and structure of
population that should not be neglected. These problems include the high
sex ratio and the growing population aging. Therefore, China is still
confronted with a severe challenge on issues of population and
development. To carry out family planning and population control, and
improve population quality remain an arduous and urgent task of strategic
significance.
The reform targeted at establishing a socialist market economic system is
further promoting the development of social productive forces. At the
same time, it has created favourable social and economic conditions for
optimizing the family planning work. The Chinese government will
unswervingly continue to carry out the basic national policy of family
planning, and promote a coordinated development between population on one
hand and the economy, society, resources and environment on the other. On
one hand, we will adhere to and continually improve the basic experience
that suits China's specific conditions and that has proved effective in
practice; on the other, we should adapt ourselves to the new situation,
emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and unceasingly deepen the
reform, to improve the level of family planning work. The practice of
pursuing family planning mainly through administrative means and
campaigns in some areas must be resolutely changed. The emphasis should
be put on the publicity and education, contraception and regular work.
Quality service in family planning should be provided to the people of
child-bearing age, particularly the reproductive health care for women,
to protect their health. The publicity and education and the management
of family planning programme should serve the purpose of serving people's
production, livelihood and fertility. With this in mind, the "Programme
of China's Family Planning Work (1995-2000)" was formulated by the
Chinese government at the end of 1994, setting clear demands on the task,
target, principle and measures in deepening the development of family
planning work.
The Chinese government holds that the issue of population is
fundamentally one of development. Population is closely and inseparably
related to economic and social development. Therefore, China always
considers population and family planning an important component part of
the strategy for the substained national economic and social development,
and they are planned and implemented together with economic and social
issues.
Since China's reform and opening to the outside world, the development of
national economy, science, technology, education, public health and
social welfare has played an active and promotive role in changing
people's concept of fertility and in lowering the birth rate. This role
is particularly evident in areas where the economy has developed rapidly.
As economic development and population control promote each other, these
areas have seen a transition, in a relatively short period of time, to
the modern population reproduction pattern characterized by a low birth
rate, low death rate and low natural growth rate. As for poverty-stricken
areas where the economy is relatively backward, since the 1980s, the
Chinese government has formulated a comprehensive strategy in regard to
the overall planning, comprehensive management and coordinated
development in population, grain, ecology and resources. It has carried
out extensive activities to help the poor in their development and
integrated these activities with family planning, vigorously accelerating
the economic and social development in these areas.
On the basis of summing up experiences of history and the innovations of
the people, the Chinese government in recent years has put forward that
the rural areas should combine family planning with developing economy,
helping peasants to become better off through hard work, and building
progressive and happy families. Through providing service to peasants in
production, livelihood and fertility, and above all through helping
families practising family planning to become better off, more and more
families were guided to have less children and to improve their financial
situation as soon as possible. This practice has won warm support from
governments at all levels, cadres at grass-roots level and the people. In
a relatively short period of time, this work has been implemented in most
of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities throughout the
country. This is not only good for accelerating rural economic
development, increasing peasants' income, and improving their living
standard, but it can also make them realize from their immediate
interests the benefit of having less children, gradually changing their
attitudes towards fertility, hightening their awareness of and enthusiasm
for carrying out family planning. Rural women not only take an active
part in these activities but they also benefit mostly from them. Through
these activities, they have enhanced their enthusiasm for production,
increased their income from labour, improved their status in both the
family and society and obtained greater independence in marriage and
childbirth.
In order to fundamentally and comprehensively solve China's population
problem, comprehensive measures have to be adopted. Such measures include
vigorously developing the economy, getting rid of poverty, protecting the
ecological environment, rationally developing and utilizing resources,
popularizing education, developing medical service and maternal and child
health care, improving the social security system --especially the
insurance system for the aged, steadily advancing urbanization, improving
women's status, and guaranteeing the legal rights and interests of women.
Over the past few years, the Chinese government has formulated plans,
policies and measures in these fields, providing a more favourable
environment for the implementation of family planning.
The Chinese government and the society as a whole have paid close
attention to the recent tendency of the high sex ratio. The problem will
be gradually solved through heightened publicity and education, and
measures have been taken to guarantee the legal rights and interests of
women and children; to severely prohibit, except when called for
medically, the technical examination of fetus for determining sex
followed by selective abortion; and to improve birth report and
statistical system.
The Chinese government strongly believes that the problems that have
appeared in the course of implementing China's family planning programme
will be solved steadily in the process of reform and development, before
it can be gradually improved and perfected.
Extracted http://www.hellomandarin.com
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