Abstract
The two-child policy was announced in 2016 in response to the low-fertility challenge in China. Birth rates of the following five years first rebounded a little but then fell down again. Jiangsu has encountered a similar scenario. Why did not the policy work well? What truly concerned young people in transition to more births? Based on 56 in-depth interviews, this chapter investigates the variations in fertility intentions of the one-child generation with the introduction of the two-child policy in urban Jiangsu and the mechanisms underlying their reproductive choices. The one-child generation dominantly shared the ideal family size of one child or two children, with more of them favouring two children. Without a clear timeframe, most women set a latest timing of childbearing of age 40, while men rarely considered this. Regardless of no preference of sex at birth reported by the majority, an implicit desire for one son was observed. A very limited influence of the two-child policy has been identified as minimal support is provided by current policy design. Household economic status and anticipated heavy load of childcare for women become the top barriers to having two children. The fertility intentions of the one-child generation remain much unchanged, in comparison with those in the one-child policy era. With more practical obstacles encountered by urban young people, the current policy cannot accommodate the needs of their childbearing and childrearing and generally fails to increase their childbearing desire.
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Notes
- 1.
Nurseries in China normally accept children from 1.5 to 3 years old.
- 2.
China’s sex ratio at birth are relatively higher for a long period (Chen, 2008; Chen & Hu, 2012; Yu, 2003), and this is a sensitive issue as most people in urban China acknowledge that preferring a certain gender (mostly preferring boys to girls) is not good. Here social desirability bias is likely to affect people’s answers. During the fieldwork, the researcher tried different means to minimise this kind of bias, including changing the phrasing of questions and asking relevant questions at a different time to testify the consistency of answers to sex preference. This minor bias was, therefore, controlled to a minimum level.
- 3.
For those who were born in the 1980s, 15 out of 17 informants with siblings desire two children; 15 out of 27 informants who are the singleton child desire two children. For the 1990s cohort, the figure is four out of six and one out of six, respectively.
- 4.
For those who were born in the 1980s, 27 out of 41 married informants desire two children; the figure for the 1990s cohort is three out of five.
- 5.
After-tax annual family incomes of informants in Taizhou tend to be convergent to the average amount provided, while the figures for informants from Wuxi vary. Therefore, figures for two cities are described in different forms. The figures are not accurate results as a few informants refused to disclose their family income. Instead, some preferred to tell if it is sufficient for expenditure.
- 6.
Extracurricular education includes “interest class” and “tutorial class.” The former is related to children’s interests and hobbies such as playing an instrument, drawing or dancing. Such class aims to develop a skill outside of school subjects and many parents take it as an instrument to enrich the child’s life experience. The “tutorial class” is designed for children who may have difficulties in school subjects and exams.
- 7.
“Grandparents” used here refer to the parents of the informants and this will be applied throughout the book.
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Ni, S. (2023). Young People’s Fertility Intentions and Concerns Under the Two-Child Policy Context. In: From One Child to Two Children. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96093-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96093-4_5
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