Overview

Modern China, with a 1985 population of 1.04 billion (World Development Report 1987), is by far the most populous country on earth, though its surface area of 9.56 million square kilometers ranks it third in size (behind the former Soviet Union and Canada). Ninety-five percent of the population live on less than 50 percent of the total area, primarily along the great river systems of the east and southeast, and only 22 percent of those in the population are classified as urban residents. The climate covers a broad range of patterns, extending from the hot, humid, and wet provinces in the south and southeast to those provinces in the north and northwest, which are for the most part dry and subject to hot summers and cold winters. By 1985 China’s per capita gross national product in current dollars was estimated at U.S. $310 (World Development Report 1987). Approximately 33 percent of the gross domestic product was derived from agriculture, down from about 39 percent in 1965. An estimated 74 percent of the labor force was in agriculture, 14 percent in industry, and 12 percent in services in 1980 (World Development Report 1987).

China’s population growth has slowed dramatically. In 1956, Ma Yin-chu, China’s well-known economic expert, urged the government to introduce population control, and to slow down population growth. But China’s leader, Mao Zedong (Mao Tsetung) rejected this advice vehemently. In 1965, however, the slogan was “yige bushao, liangge zhenghao, sange duole” (“One [child] is not too few, two [children] are just right, three are many”). By 1972, population control was justified by eugenic arguments: “quality instead of quantity.”