Abstract
In the recent 30 years, China has transformed from a typical and traditional society with agricultural industry to a society of city-oriented industry. Some major cities have appeared with typical characteristics of a postindustrial society. Under the huge drive of societal transition, China has experienced a revolutionary transition of population—from a society of high birth rate, low mortality rate, and high natural growth rate to one of low birth rate, low mortality rate, and low natural growth rate.
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- 1.
The household family of single member refers to a family of a single adult, regardless of one’s marriage status, living alone in a place for a period of time.
- 2.
To note that, single-member family household is included in China National Census yet not in US National Census. Thus, the data of National Census from China and the USA is not comparable considering the different definitions on “family household.” A household refers to the living community with permanent residence and stable interaction. A household in China National Census consists of its major parts—family household and collective household. The household in this report refers to family household only, excluding collective household.
- 3.
In 1970s, Zhou Enlai criticized the action of putting the one-child policy and health acts together when meeting all staff from health department of military control commission. He said, “the one child policy is a part of national planning as a planning issue rather than a health issue. If you cannot handle the population, why bother the national planning!” Because of Zhou Enlai’s direction, the state council issued the Report about Better the Work of One-Child Policy in 1971 and first mentioned about to bring down the natural birth rate during the 4th Five-Year Planning and achieve 10 % decrease in cities and 15 % in rural areas by 1975. Thus, this plan has been noted in the 4th Five-Year Planning (1971–1975).
- 4.
In the National Census in the April of 2010, the average household members (including family members) were only 3.14. However, if including all family and non-family members in a housing unit, the average household members reached 4.42. If including non-family households in the calculation, the average members per household were 2.58. To note that, the definition of the family in National Census was a group of people who have kinship, marital relationships, or adopting relationships and are living together. Therefore, the census regards a single-member household as a non-family household by the definition. Moreover, the census defined households of homosexually married couples, homosexually unmarried couples, and straight couples as non-family households. Of course, non-family households also include so-called collectively living households, such as students living in the dormitory, soldiers in the barrack, or renters and collective renters.
- 5.
According to the floating population monitored by the National Population and Family Planning Commission in the second half of 2010.
- 6.
As the concept of an independent household is defined as a group of related individuals who have lived in a place of independent residential space for a half year or more, it is different from another concept “the identity of the family” or the “family” that is commonly referred to. In fact, National Census investigates each “household,” which includes family household and non-family household. This “household” concept is determined by kinship, marriage relationship, support relationship, and adopting relationship, and thus, it is more operationalizable to measure a family.
- 7.
For example, some regions like Hubei province implemented policy of “no more child if it is a boy, more children until it is a boy.” This is a typical boy-to-stop policy.
- 8.
A parental family refers to one’s original family, and a child family refers to one that is extended from the original family.
- 9.
The 1 % sample data in the 6th census was not accessible, and thus, the data from the 5th census in 2000 is used here.
- 10.
The cited percentages did not add up to 100 % because all the digits were rounded up.
- 11.
In Chinese history, there was regulation of laws to stimulate or against the division of the family. The former ones were set such as in Qin dynasty, where the adult sons had to divide assets with their parents otherwise suffered from heavy taxes (Li Yinhe 1995:3). The latter regulations were issued such as in Tang Lv, in which “whenever grandparents and parents are still alive, children will get punished with one hundred strikes if they divide assets with their parents. They will also receive 80 strikes of punishment if they divide assets after parents decease.” Therefore, the government will issue different policies on division of family assets in various historical periods so as to induce social development.
- 12.
Among the studies regarding the nuclear family, the stem family, and the extended family, there are a few pieces of data considering stem families being the main family mode in rural areas. For example, according to the studies conducted by Ma Xia and colleagues in the population study department in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, around 1940, there were 30 % of nuclear families, 43 % of stem families, 23 % of extended families, and 4 % of other families. Around 1981, there were 36 % of nuclear families, 55 % of stem families, 3 % of extended families, and 6 % of other families (Shao Qin, and Hu Mingxia 1988).
- 13.
In China, the divorce rate in 1985 was about 0.44 %.
- 14.
The calculation is based on the data from Chinese Demographic Census 2010.
- 15.
Yan Yunxiang in his work Money and Morality inside Family Politics: Analysis of Anthropology on Family-Splitting Mode in Northern Rural Areas pointed out that “more villagers consider family-splitting in advance as the solution to family issues rather than think about the crisis in family politics or failure in ethics. Some parents even demand their married sons to split up and live by their own.” It was cited on the 6th issue of Sociology Study in 1998.
- 16.
Gender ratio indicates the number of newly born male babies to every 100 newly born female babies.
- 17.
The data was calculated according to Tables 1-7a, 1-7b, and 1-7c in Chinese National Census in 2010.
- 18.
American Community Survey in 2009.
- 19.
Page 141 in General Statistics Handbook in Population and Family Planning (2005). China Population Publishing House, 2006.
- 20.
It is certain to expect the increase in age of first marriage along with the transformation of social structure and urbanization level. Yet it does not imply the ever-increasing trend of first marriage age. Nevertheless, adults approaching their 30 all hoped to get married before turning to 30. According to the stats from every US censuses, the females’ first marriage age was 21.9 in 1990, 20.3 in 1950 and 1970, 21.8 in 1978, and slowly increasing since then. Seen in The Family by Ross Eshleman, page 288. China Social Sciences Press, 1991.
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Li, P. (2016). Transition and Governance of Family Structure. In: Li, P. (eds) Great Changes and Social Governance in Contemporary China. China Insights. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45734-4_3
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