Birth control in China, 1949-2000 : population policy and demographic development /

Scharping (Univ. of Cologne) offers perhaps the most significant study of China's population policies and demographic issues since Judith Banister's China's Changing Population (CH, Feb'88). This book supersedes and doubles the length of his 1999 edition. China's population policy since 1971 represents the late Chairman Mao's repudiation of his earlier view. Both a great success and failure, this policy has averted some 340 million births, but China's population is still more than 300 million over the optimum. An annual growth of 15 million continues to represent enormous constraints and implications to the economic and social developments of China. Organizational and procedural flaws, loopholes, evasion, deception, and inconsistency characterize policy implementation over a decentralized political landscape. The policy pits collective interests against private interests. There are also fundamental disagreements among policy makers on the efficacy of agricultural, economic, and technological advances on population growth. Extensive use of Chinese and UN sources, 35 tables and 20 charts, but no maps or Chinese glossary. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. H. T. Wong emeritus, Eastern Washington University