China's local and national fertility policies at the end of the twentieth century.

摘要

This article focuses on the variations in China's fertility policy as of the late 1990's, attempting to describe local policy and the implications of the aggregation of local policies for national policy. The politics of population policy-making in contemporary China, and the fertility policy regulations within the provinces are discussed. The intricacies and complexities of the population control process are described, serving as background for the detailed analysis of the policy-stipulated fertility level based on local fertility policies. The geographical and demographic distributions of policy fertility in the country are presented.