China

The 1980s may be characterized by two demographic issues which are receiving rapidly increasing attention.

China currently is the country with the largest population in the world. The Fifth National Population Census in 2000 reports that the total population of mainland China stands at 1.27 billion (Zhuang and Zhang 2003) while the 1 Percent National Population Sample Survey (mini-census) carried out in November 2005 reports the total population to be at 1.31 billion (National Statistics Bureau (NSB) 2006).1 China is also the country with the most stringent and government-directed family planning programme and fertility policy having experienced a dramatic decline in fertility from 5 to 6 children per woman in the 1950s to less than 2 in recent years. The 2000 census reports China’s total fertility rate (TFR) to be at 1.4 (NSB 2003). The rapid changes occurring in China’s population dynamics call for a review of the fertility transition in China in terms of trends policy and impact. This article will first discuss the population dynamics ongoing in China in terms of growth birth rate and fertility and then examine the fertility policy implemented by the Government of China before exploring the impact of fertility decline in terms of population ageing gender equality sex ratio at birth and labour supply.

Since the late 1970s China has been making strong efforts to accelerate the pace of modernization. Because the Chinese Government considers poor economic development and rapid population growth to be the main obstacles to modernization it has emphasised both of those aspects.

Increasing attention is being paid to the rapid change of population age structures in developing countries even though population growth has long been considered as the main issue in those countries. As a result of the consistent decline in fertility over the last two to three decades the working age population currently claims a large proportion of the total age structure. Soon however rapid growth of the elderly population will be one of the most conspicuous characteristics of population change in the developing countries. It is estimated that currently the total world population increases 1.7 per cent annually whereas the portions of the population aged 55+ years and 65+ years increase 2.2 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively. Eighty per cent of the increase in the 55-t population occurs in the developing countries. In the next three decades the population aged 65 and over in the developing countries will be twice as great as in the developed countries (Kinsella 1988).

Breast-feeding is almost universal and lengthy in China especially in less developed areas (SSB 1986; Tu 1989a). Breast-feeding serves as an effective means of birth spacing in traditional Chinese society where the reproductive potential is enormous owing to early and universal marriage. It also provides protection against malnutrition and infectious diseases that is very important for child survival especially in rural areas where access to modern medical facilities is quite limited and infant formulas are not available (Tu 1989a).

In recent decades many third world countries have been experiencing rapid rates of urbanization resulting in an explosion in the siae of their urban population. China however has been a striking exception to the general patterns. The Government of China has intervened in order to keep the process of urbanization under control. Since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 the Government has taken measures to control gradually the rapid growth of population and to regulate by various means the increase of the urban population and the level of urbanization. The low level of urbanization in China has thus been well recognized in recent studies of the demographic geographic social and economic development of this country (Chen 1973; Thompson 1975; Chang 1976; Chiu 1980; Yeh and Xu 1984; Chen 1988).

A major issue in all societies especially those that are ageing is the extent to which the elderly can live independently. Cognitive functioning is a crucial factor in the degree of independence of the elderly while cognitive impairment can predict the loss of functions and even death. There is a close and direct relationship between social support and cognitive functioning and social support-preventable cognitive impairment (Bassuk and Berkman 1999). A recent cross-sectional study demonstrated that intergenerational support improved the cognitive functioning of the elderly in rural China (Wang Li and Zhang 2005). However within the context of high levels of migration of working-age adults from rural to urban areas of China multivariate analysis of longitudinal data on changes in the cognitive functioning of the elderly is required. This article presents an analysis of selected data from a 3-wave longitudinal survey conducted from 2001 to 2006 among 997 parents aged 60 and older living in rural Anhui Province China showing that intergenerational transfers especially financial transfers have a significant influence on the changes in the cognitive functioning of the elderly. As such the findings bring a new dimension to the current scientific discussion on the impacts of changing traditional patterns of intergenerational support for elderly persons in China.

Worldwide stigma and discrimination have been identified as tremendous barriers to addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic beginning with Jonathan Mann in the 1980s (Mann 1987) and by others (UNAIDS 2001 2008; Reidpath Brijnath and Chan 2005; APN+ 2004). Stigma was defined by Goffman (1963) nearly half a century ago as a discrediting attribute about an individual or group that serves to devalue that person or group in the eyes of the society. More recent theoretical frameworks suggest that stigmatization and discrimination are manifest in a number of contexts including within families communities schools employment travel/ migration opportunities health-care settings and HIV/AIDS programmes (Parker and Aggleton 2002) and in religion and the media (Malcolm and others 1998). A study in four countries in Asia found pervasive discrimination with 80 per cent of respondents having experienced AIDS-related discrimination including nearly one in five facing discrimination within their families and in their workplaces (APN+ 2004). In a review of interventions to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma Brown MacIntyre and Trujillo (2003) noted that stigma affects prevention behaviours test-seeking care-seeking quality of care provided to positive clients and perceptions and treatment of people living with HIV and AIDS by communities and families. Parker and others (2002) contend that HIV/AIDS-related stigma is often layered upon other stigma for example the one associated with engaging in illegal behaviour such as sex work and drug use. Furthermore families with HIV-positive members often face stigma from the community. In order to combat stigma and the associated discrimination it is important to understand the knowledge beliefs and attitudes and how they vary across groups within a country. Such knowledge is critical for designing interventions to reduce stigma and discrimination.

With the development of its family planning programme China has achieved great success since the 1970s in slowing the growth of its population. This is evident in the rapid decline in fertility: the total fertility rate (TFR) declined from the 1960s average of 5.68 to 4.0 in the 1970s and to only 2.46 for the first eight years of the 1980s.