Lost and Found
Douban
The "Missing Girls" in Rural China
John James Kennedy / Yaojiang Shi
overview
In 1979, the Chinese government famously introduced The Single Child Policy to control population growth. Nearly 40 years later, the result is an estimated 20 million "missing girls" in the population from 1980-2010. In Local Leaders, Families, and the "Missing Girls" in Rural China, John James Kennedy and Yaojiang Shi focus on village-level implementation of the one-child policy and the level of mutual-noncompliance between officials and rural families. Through in-depth interviews with rural parents and local leaders, they reveal that many had strong incentives not to comply with the birth control policy because larger families meant increased labor and income. In this sober exploration of China's Single Child Policy throughout the reform period, the authors more broadly show how governance by grassroots cadres with greater local autonomy has affected China in the past and the challenges for resolving center-versus-locality contradictions in governance that lie ahead.
contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Street Level Birth Control and Mutual Noncompliance
Chapter 2: Historical Underreporting and Identifying the "Missing Girls"
Chapter 3: Registration Challenge: Counting the Population from Imperial China to the PRC
Chapter 4: Cadre Voices and Birth Registration Process in the Villages
Chapter 5: Villagers, Daughters, Voices of the "Missing"
Appendix A
Appendix B
References
Index