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3.6 Home relocation

Among the 888 women interviewed in Hengtang and Jiahong, 358, or 40.3%, had never moved their homes, and 530, or 59.7, had moved. Of the latter, 80.6% had moved within 10 km and 19.4% farther than 10 km. (Table 3.16 shows data broken down by location and age cohort.)

Table 3.16 Home relocation before and after marriage

Of those who had moved, 430, or 81%, moved to a new home after marriage; most of these moved less than 10 km. The other 19% moved because of local land readjustment or for other family reasons. Home relocation had generally had no special impact on their family economy.

Since the institution of the rural reform, most of the surplus labour force in Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces has shifted to non-agricultural work within their native villages. Only a few became contract workers or seasonal workers in nearby towns and cities, leaving their families behind to manage the farmland contracted to the household. Most of these families have bicycles, and a few own motorcycles, so those who work in the near vicinity of their homes can come home every day or at regular intervals. This is the typical outcome of the shifting of China's rural labour force to local non-agricultural work such as township-run factories.

Table 3.17 Women's ages at the births of their first and last children

Consequently, the rural reform and the economic development that follows is not causing migration of rural inhabitants to the cities.

3.7 Childbirth, family planning, and mother and child health care

3. 7.1 Infant survival and mortality rates

The survival rates for babies born to women of the three age cohorts were as follows:

- elderly cohort, 71.7%,
- middle-age cohort, 90.5%,
- young cohort, 93.6%.

The mortality rates for babies within six months after birth were:

- elderly cohort, 12.8%,
- middle-age cohort, 6.2%,
- young cohort, 5.6%.

The improvement is attributable to economic growth and the improvement of people's living standards in general, and the development of mother and child health care in particular. In pre-liberation times, poor sanitary conditions and unsterilized midwifery caused high infant mortality from tetanus. After liberation, while transforming old-type midwives, the health departments trained a large number of modern midwives and primary health workers to serve the rural areas. Meanwhile, drinking water and environmental sanitation have been improved, and health protection measures for children such as planned immunization have been carried out step by step in the rural areas. Since then, infant mortality has steadily declined.

(See tables 3.17-3.20 for other data on the birth and survival of children.)

Table 3.18 Pregnancies and birth statuses

3.7.2 Family planning

The frequency of pregnancy among the women surveyed has declined as a result of family planning. (See table 3.21.) The average and maximum number of pregnancies for each age cohort were as follows:

- elderly cohort, average 6.7, maximum 14;
- middle-age cohort, average 3.8, maximum 9;
- young cohort, average 1.3, maximum 4.

Table 3.19 Duration Of life Of Children home by the Women surveyed

In Hengtang 97.6% of the women in the middle-aged cohort and 76.8% in the young cohort practiced birth control; in Jiahong the figures were 90% and 57% respectively (table 3.22). The rates for the young cohort were low because some of the newly married women had no children yet at the time of the survey.

The most popular contraceptive used in the two townships is the IUD; some women have had tubal ligation, and some men have had vasectomy (table 3.23). When an IUD fails, abortion is resorted to. There is a need for improving the efficacy of contraceptive devices.

Table 3.20 Causes of children's deaths

Table 3.21 Frequency of pregnancy

Table 3.22 Proportion of women practicing birth control

Table 3.23 Contraceptive methods used

3.7.3 Changing views on childbearing

Present government population policy encourages late marriage, late pregnancy, fewer children, eugenics, and the practice of one child for each couple. Though the idea of having only one child runs counter to the Chinese traditional belief that more children mean more blessing, the new policy finds general acceptance in the two townships. This is the result of intensive publicity work and mother and child health measures that make the overwhelming majority of the people understand and support family planning. The old preference for having many children is waning. It is especially easier for the women in the middle-age and elderly cohorts to accept the idea of family planning because almost all of them had a difficult time bringing up many children with a low family income. They are now convinced that with fewer children, mothers not only can concentrate more on production and increasing family income but can take better care of their own health and their children's and give them better education. But most people accept the idea of one child for each couple because they understand that China has a big population but a poor economic base and insufficient arable land. The only way out is to control the growth of the population. Actually most couples would like to have two children-a son and a daughter. They settle for one child out of consideration for the nation's overall interest.

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