preface:
In the 1980s and 1990s, the mainland's family planning policy was officially implemented, and many rural areas began to panic, because many families already had plans to have three or four children.
However, at that time, the birth rate of the mainland increased sharply, and it was urgent to delay, so the central government issued a policy: encouraging a family to have only one child, and a policy of up to two children.
So much so that it caused an uproar at the time, even to the point where the supernatural student was fined.
Figure | Chen yun
According to a report made by Chen Yun in 1980, if it is not controlled, by 2080, the Chinese population will reach 4.2 billion people, which is a very terrible number, so in 20 years, that is, at the beginning of the 21st century, it is necessary to stabilize the population at about 1.2 billion.
So, where is Chinese mouth heading? Why did Chen Yun put forward the suggestion of "encouraging only one child".
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese 400 million people
It should be clear that before the Qing Dynasty, the population of each dynasty would not exceed one hundred million, even if it was a conquest every year, but the population had always been within the controllable range, which had to say the tax policy of the Qing Dynasty.
After the reform of Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty, a whip law was implemented, which meant that all taxes were exchanged for one, and taxes were paid according to the number of acres of land. After the Qing Dynasty, this policy reduced the financial pressure of the people at the bottom and could feed more people, although it had a new name "Spreading Ding into Mu" but greatly increased the population, plus the Kangxi Emperor had issued a policy of "never raising taxes".
In addition, from the perspective of the Qing Dynasty's policy of closing the country to the outside world, since the Manchu Qing Entered the Customs, most of the troops of the Central Plains Imperial Court were borne by the common people, and the army of the northern nomads at that time relied on the south to rob the people to survive, so for the common people, basically every family could not make ends meet, and did not dare to have more children.
Since the Manchu Qing Entered the Customs, the Great Qing ruled the north and south of the Great Wall, and there was no such thing as robbing the people's grain in the north, so the people's lives became stable, coupled with a good tax policy, each family could raise another child, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, that is, during the Guangxu administration, the population of the Qing Dynasty was 400 million people, and 400 million people were already at the peak at that time.
But even with a large population, due to the long-term isolation of the country, most of the productivity of the Chinese people depends on manpower, and when the Westerners discovered this very rich "primitive" farming country, they began to be foolish and wanted to bully.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Britain became the most powerful capitalist country in the world and established the "sun never sets" empire, and its next major target of aggression in Asia was China.
Before 1840, the British used drugs to mutilate the body and mind of the Chinese by constantly selling opium to China, according to Lin Zexu's report to the Daoguang Emperor, if this continued, the Qing Dynasty would be finished, and it would be eaten directly before the war. This is because there were also officials in the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty who smoked opium.
Under such circumstances, Lin Zexu decisively carried out a war at Humen, and the British began to attack the Qing under the pretext of attacking, and then the Daoguang Emperor ordered a declaration of war against the British, sending tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to Humen overnight to fight with the British invaders. However, due to insufficient combat effectiveness, it eventually led to the martyrdom of Guan Tianpei, the admiral of guangdong water division, and the Qing government was forced to seek peace, which laid the foundation for the invasion of more invaders.
Figure | The Battle of A-Day War
Decades later, in 1894, the Korean Dongxue Party revolt broke out, the Korean government was defeated and retreated, asking the Qing Dynasty for help, Japan took the opportunity to send troops to the west, deliberately provoked the war, july 25 Sino-Japanese naval battle broke out, because this year is the year of Jia Wu, this war is known as the Jia Wu War.
Finally, because of the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government, the Beiyang Marine Division was completely destroyed, and a year later the Treaty of Maguan was signed, in which one of the treaties was that China compensated Japan for 300 million taels of Kupingyin. This number is enormous.
At the end of the 19th century, especially after the Sino-Japanese War, the imperialist powers began a fierce competition to divide China, and China faced an unprecedented national crisis.
One of them is still the reparations, which reads, "Forty-five million subjects of the Qing Dynasty, each compensating the nations with one or two pieces of silver, repaid in thirty-nine years, with an annual interest of four percent, and the principal and interest totaling ninety-eight thousand two hundred and twenty-three thousand eighty-one hundred and fifty-two...
A large country with a population of 400 million people, in the face of foreign invaders, did not have the slightest sense of fear, and China was completely reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. After that, China desperately needed someone to save it, when Mao Zedong was 8 years old.
Figure | Young Mao Zedong
After the founding of New China, the population increased dramatically
Since the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921, China's population has maintained a growth model, and after the founding of New China, the first national census showed that the Chinese population at that time was about 600 million people.
Before the founding of New China, due to successive years of war, countless soldiers died in the revolutionary road, taking the Xiangjiang War as an example, the Central Red Army broke through Chiang Kai-shek's fourth blockade line after fierce battles, but the Central Red Army paid a great price, from more than 86,000 people during the Long March to more than 30,000 people (including non-combat attrition).
The founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 eliminated the frequent scourges of war, the peasants were given a share of the cultivated land, the workers were given employment opportunities, the people's food and clothing were basically guaranteed, and the population had the necessary conditions for rapid growth.
With the implementation of various policies, the living standards of the people are slowly improving, China's population is about 500 million, due to the lack of family planning policy, the development of Chinese population is in an unplanned, spontaneous growth, which has produced the potential conditions of "population explosion".
So to be more specific, why is there a "population explosion" in 1980?
First, the first marriage is younger.
According to the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China promulgated on May 1, 1950, the legal age of marriage is 18 years for women and 20 years for men. In the vast rural areas, the phenomenon of early marriage is very prominent, and the phenomenon of having more children in one family is common due to the early age of marriage and the lack of good contraceptive measures.
Second, the government encourages multiple births.
The new China, which had just gone through war, was in ruins, the peasants had land, the workers had stable jobs, and the desire to marry and have children was relatively strong, in order to encourage fertility, the Ministry of Health also issued a lot of policies on fertility at that time.
Third, the medical and health conditions are good.
From the data of the first census, the birth rate of the population has increased significantly, which shows that with the improvement of China's medical conditions, the mortality rate of babies born has decreased, which has improved the survival rate of newborns. In the war years, many children died shortly after birth because of the problems of the birth environment and conditions.
It continued until the 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun noticed the problem, and if left unchecked, the harm caused by the population explosion was unprecedented.
In October 1979, Comrade Chen Yun stayed in the hospital for 164 days because of colon cancer surgery, and he thought about this problem more systematically and discussed the policy on family planning with Deng Xiaoping, but if it is really implemented, it is very difficult, there is no doubt about it.
In March 1980, Deng Xiaoping drafted the "Resolution on Several Historical Issues Concerning the Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, and on some of these issues, he specifically talked with Chen Yun and others.
Chen Yun has his own opinion on the idea of long-term planning, and in early April, when Chen Yun called Yao Yilin, he specifically mentioned: "In the long-term planning, we must consider how to improve the lives of farmers who account for more than 80% of the population." He urged the State Planning Commission to fully listen to the opinions of all quarters and the opinions put forward by some foreign friends on China's modernization drive; of course, what to do in specific work should proceed from the actual situation on the mainland.
At this time, Chen Yun already had his own ideas, he said: "In the long-term planning, it is necessary to include the population problem, and the population problem must have a plan, this problem is not solved, and many things are not easy to handle." ”
Subsequently, Chen Yun made a hypothesis that the population registered now has exceeded 900 million people, and the growth momentum is very strong, according to this speculation, now each family has an average of 3 children, 100 years later, that is, in 2080, the Chinese will reach 4.26 billion people, which is equivalent to the total population of the world in 1979.
After this figure came out, Chen Yun was shocked, so he believed that from 1980, it should be immediately advocated that a couple should have only one child, otherwise "the future will be unmanageable." ”
Chen Yun proposed: Each household is encouraged to have one child, and a maximum of two children
On April 19, 1980, Li Xiannian realized the seriousness of the matter and visited Chen Yun in Hangzhou, and the two exchanged views on this issue.
Li Xiannian and Chen Yun have been working together in the State Council for a long time, and they have always been realistic in doing things, and at that time they reached an agreement on several points:
First, the ratio of accumulation to consumption must be appropriate, in favor of Deng Xiaoping's proposal that the rate of accumulation should be set at 25 percent.
Second, the speed of economic growth does not require too fast, mainly to require stable growth in the next 20 years and not to take a detour.
Third, wage adjustments should be prudent and stable, and there should be no major adjustments in the past two years, mainly to solve the problem of wages for people who do not have bonuses in culture, education, science and technology, and institutions.
In addition, Li Xiannian and Chen Yun focused on the issue of family planning. Chen Yun said that now the total population of the country is best controlled below 1.1 billion, and the most ideal solution to this problem is "one-child". That is, a family has a child.
At that time, Chen Yun raised the seriousness of this matter, saying that the problem of "population explosion" seriously restricted economic and social development. Whether population growth can be controlled has become a major issue in whether modernization can be achieved. Many have suggested that the state should formulate a long-term national policy to strictly control population growth. However, if it is controlled, how strict it should be. There are also different views in society.
In light of China's long-term development strategy, especially the issue of population development strategy, the discussion on family planning has become more and more enthusiastic. He said: "Chinese have a lot of mouths, there are difficulties, we must find ways to play its advantages, but the population must be controlled." ”
After Li Xiannian returned to Beijing, he specifically discussed this matter with Deng Xiaoping. Li Xiannian said he and Chen Yun agreed that "the best one, at most two", but Chen Yun said that it should be tougher, clearly stipulating that "only one is allowed".
In this regard, Chen Yun joked that he should be prepared for people to scold and cut off his children and grandchildren, but if he did not do this, he would not be able to do so in the future.
In fact, Chen Yun's ideological preparation for "people scolding and cutting off their children and grandchildren" is not unreasonable; under the customs formed by the traditional agricultural society for thousands of years, the ideas of "many people are powerful" and "many people are a good thing" are deeply rooted, and many Chinese families are in fact difficult to accept the policy of "only having one child."
But how to solve it? Chen Yun thought of five ways:
First, to create public opinion, it is best to create one for three or five years, stipulating that one family will be born.
Second, certain decrees are enacted.
Third, strengthen contraception.
Fourth, preferential treatment policies are implemented, such as giving priority to only children in employment.
Fifth, implement social insurance to solve the problem of "raising children and preventing the elderly."
Judging from Chen Yun's ideas, these methods basically met the needs of society at that time, and in order to "create public opinion on a large scale," the central authorities did a lot of work since 1980.
On February 2, 1980, Yu Qiuli, Wang Zhen, Gu Mu, Chen Muhua, Bo Yibo, and other central leaders attended the "Forum on New Trends in Family, Marriage, and Family Planning" held in Beijing. ”
Implementation of family planning
In fact, in the early 1980s, when the central government put forward the idea of "it is best to have one and two at most", it did not make a hard and fast rule that "only one is allowed to be born".
Before the implementation of family planning, Chen Yun also asked whether there would be other problems in this way. The other issues he said were new problems that might arise.
For example, the population is aging, the labor force is insufficient, or there are more men than women, and the number of elderly people to support a couple will increase.
In this regard, Chen Yun wrote in a letter: Limiting the population, family planning should be included in the national long-term plan, five-year plan, and annual plan china, and this issue is equally important as the economic plan.
While these issues are equally important, controlling population growth is the first priority for now.
Finally, the central leaders unanimously agreed to set the goal and strive to control the number of people to less than 1.2 billion by the end of the 20th century.
On September 25, 1980, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made its attitude clear in a special way and issued an "Open Letter to All Communist Party Members and Members of the Communist Youth League on the Issue of Controlling the Population Growth of the Mainland":
Advocating that a couple have only one child is a major measure that has a bearing on the speed and future of the four modernizations, on the health and happiness of future generations, and on the long-term and current interests of the people of the whole country.
Realizing that a couple will have only one child is a major event that changes customs and customs.
The letter clearly states:
For each household, the population has increased, and before they can work, they will use more money and more food, affecting the improvement of family life. When they are able to work, they contribute to society on the one hand, and consume the goods produced in society on the other. As far as the state is concerned, if the labor productivity of industry and agriculture is still very low, the production of materials is not yet abundant, and the population growth is fast or slow, it will directly affect the accumulation of funds needed for modernization.
The central government has requested:
All Communist Party members and members of the Communist Youth League, especially cadres at all levels, must be concerned about the future of the country, be responsible for the interests of the people, and the happiness of future generations, thoroughly understand the significance and necessity of this matter, and set an example by example.
In this way, an important decision was made.
In September 1982, family planning was established as a basic national policy, and it was written into the Constitution in December of the same year. The main content and purpose are: to promote late marriage, late childbearing, fewer births, and eugenics, so as to control the population in a planned way. The implementation of this content has played a non-negligible role in China's population and development problems.
Today, with the development of the social economy, this policy has been relaxed to a certain extent. Of course, looking back, without this policy at that time, China's "population explosion" problem was unimaginable.