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Ma Yinchu, the godfather of family planning: Marrying daughters and classmates as concubines, having seven children in one child, the achievements of young scholars are extraordinary, patriotic feelings are iron bones, and family planning theory is of far-reaching significance

author:History of Crazy Clouds

If you are a post-80s or post-90s, then you are most likely the only baby of your parents, because since the 1980s, in the face of the explosive population fertility peak, the country has had to adopt a population planning policy.

In fact, the first to put forward the theory of family planning was Ma Yinchu, a famous economist and demographer known as the "godfather of family planning" in China. In 1957, in the context of low social productivity and explosive population growth, the 75-year-old Ma Yinchu proposed the theory of family planning with fewer eugenics and wrote the "New Population Theory" that seems to be very consistent with human development today.

After Ma Yinchu's new population theory was published, it caused great controversy, and he was also pointed out by many people because he had married a wife and a concubine in his lifetime, and had seven children.

Ma Yinchu, the godfather of family planning: Marrying daughters and classmates as concubines, having seven children in one child, the achievements of young scholars are extraordinary, patriotic feelings are iron bones, and family planning theory is of far-reaching significance

(Ma Yinchu)

In 1882, that is, at the noon of the fifth month of the fifth lunar month in the eighth year of Guangxu, Ma Yinchu was born in Shaoxing, the "city of literati", according to the ancients, he was born in the year of Ma Yue Ma Ri Ma, plus his surname was Ma, and the fortune teller called him "five horses complete, must be extraordinary".

Ma Yinchu was the fifth oldest, with four elder brothers and two younger sisters, the whole family lived in a tavern by his grumpy and stubborn father, Ma Yinchu was smart and studious when he was a child, but his father let him go home to take over the accounting after he had studied private school for three years, so as to inherit the tavern in the future.

But the equally stubborn Ma Yinchu resolutely refused to comply, so he incurred the punishment of the feudal family paternalism, Ma Yinchu was angry, and even resisted by jumping into the river, fortunately rescued, otherwise decades later, China would lack an iron-boned economic master.

Ma Yinchu's studious spirit touched his father's friend, Zhang Jiangsheng, a Shanghai businessman who came to Shaoxing to collect silk, who adopted Ma Yinchu as a righteous son, took him to Shanghai Yinghua College to study, and provided tuition and living support for Ma Yinchu, who broke with his father and had no financial resources.

Ma Yinchu, the godfather of family planning: Marrying daughters and classmates as concubines, having seven children in one child, the achievements of young scholars are extraordinary, patriotic feelings are iron bones, and family planning theory is of far-reaching significance

(Ma Yin Junior High School)

After ma Yinchu opened the hegemonic mode, after graduating from Tianjin Beiyang University, he was sent to study at public expense to study at Yale University for a master's degree in economics, and later obtained a doctorate in economics from Columbia University, and his graduation thesis "On New York City Finance" was also selected to be included in the new student textbook, Columbia University once stayed at the school to teach, but Ma Yinchu, who had patriotic feelings, chose to return to China.

In 1915, at the age of 33, Ma Yinchu returned to his homeland and served in the Ministry of Finance of the Beiyang government, but dissatisfied with the corrupt and disorderly government system at that time, he competed for appointment to Peking University as provost.

In 1928, Ma Yinchu became a member of the government legislature and taught at Nanjing University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Chongqing University, and Zhejiang University. Because of his upright personality, he repeatedly engaged in foreign exchange speculation against the four major families at that time, and publicly reprimanded the country for making money, resulting in being secretly imprisoned for two years in 1940.

Ma Yinchu, the godfather of family planning: Marrying daughters and classmates as concubines, having seven children in one child, the achievements of young scholars are extraordinary, patriotic feelings are iron bones, and family planning theory is of far-reaching significance

(Ma Yinchu School of Economics Activity Silhouette)

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the talented Ma Yinchu continued to offer advice to the country with the expertise of an economist, and while serving as the president of Zhejiang University, he was also elected as a member of the Central People's Government, deputy director of the Financial and Economic Commission, and vice chairman of the East China Military and Political Committee.

In 1953, China's first census results showed that the annual population to increase by about 13 million, the proliferation rate of 2%, this data caused Ma Yinchu doubts, he concluded after more than two years of investigation: at that time China's population growth rate of more than 2.2% per year, some areas reached 3%, if according to this population growth rate, 50 years later, China will have 2.6 billion people, due to the large number of people and small land, may become a problem to eat.

In July 1955, Ma Yinchu first raised the issue of population control at a national conference, but at that time, China was still mainly agricultural production, and "many people have great strength" became the mainstream idea, so his proposal was not supported.

Ma Yinchu, the godfather of family planning: Marrying daughters and classmates as concubines, having seven children in one child, the achievements of young scholars are extraordinary, patriotic feelings are iron bones, and family planning theory is of far-reaching significance

(Ma Yinchu UNFPA activity silhouette)

In February 1957, at the Supreme Council of State, Ma Yinchu once again put forward the idea of controlling the population, which was affirmed by the delegates attending the meeting, and then he published the "New Population Theory", which discussed the importance and urgency of population control from ten aspects.

Ma Yinchu believes that to achieve less eugenics, we must start from the fundamental problems, first of all, to raise the age of marriage, followed by a couple with only two children, more birth penalties, less rewards. These views of his provided a theoretical basis for the formulation of China's later family planning policy and made great contributions to China's population control, and he thus became the "first person to Chinese oral studies".

Ma Yin's first marriage and childbearing in the young adult stage, in the late feudal Qing Dynasty, in 1901, he and his parents arranged marriage partner Zhang Tuanmei happy marriage, the two got along well, and gave birth to a son and three daughters, but the eldest son died shortly after birth.

Ma Yinchu, the godfather of family planning: Marrying daughters and classmates as concubines, having seven children in one child, the achievements of young scholars are extraordinary, patriotic feelings are iron bones, and family planning theory is of far-reaching significance

(Silhouette of the event commemorating Ma Yin's first birthday)

At that time, the society was still popular with the traditional ideas of polygamy and male succession, and at the suggestion of his wife, in 1917, Ma Yinchu, who returned from staying in the west, was not exempt from the vulgarity, and married his daughter's classmate Wang Zhongzhen as a concubine, and the two gave birth to two men and two daughters after marriage, and Zhang Tuanmei and Wang Zhongzhanzhen also had a harmonious relationship as sisters. His concubinage behavior, which was common in the social context of the time, was nothing new.

After Ma Yinchu put forward the theory of family planning, many people ignored different backgrounds of the times and questioned his feudal marriage and many children, but ignored the historical reality of the late Qing Dynasty during Ma Lao's marriage and childbearing period, and the sharp decline in the population of successive years of war.

In 1957, when Ma Yinchu formally put forward the theory of family planning, he was 75 years old, when the founding of New China, the chaos was initially determined, the population had more than 600 million people, the fertility rate was as high as 2.2% or even 3%, at that time there was no hybrid rice, no agricultural machinery, low productivity, food supply was very tight, basic living materials needed to be supplied by ticket, if the population growth, the results can be imagined.

Ma Yinchu, the godfather of family planning: Marrying daughters and classmates as concubines, having seven children in one child, the achievements of young scholars are extraordinary, patriotic feelings are iron bones, and family planning theory is of far-reaching significance

(Ma Yinchu Former Residence Memorial Hall)

Facts have proved that Ma Yinchu's new population theory at that time, although it can not be said to be completely correct, but it is very far-sighted, if he can adopt his point of view at that time, each family has less than two children, the Chinese mouth will be maintained at 800-900 million, and it will not be the later one-size-fits-all one-child policy, the current demographic structure will be much healthier, and the demographic dividend will be much longer.

As for how many children he had, as mentioned earlier, his family planning claims came from investigations and studies in the fifties, not from his innate belief, and when he proposed population control, the youngest son, Ma Benchu, was already over thirty years old.

Therefore, to evaluate whether a person's views are correct or not, we should combine the background of the times and the actual situation at that time, and analyze them fairly and objectively, rather than being involved with his private life, otherwise it will inevitably be unfair.

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