Planning birth: changes in fertility culture in a Chinese village.

AbstractThis article examines how ordinary villagers made their childbearing choices and strategized fertility desires when they were facing an unprecedented intrusion into the private life sphere by a powerful state. In their response to the birth control program many villagers had transcended the traditional fertility ideals and adjusted their reproductive behavior, while others had resisted to it by various strategies and paid a dear price. Why such differences and what are the consequences and implications of these individual choices and strategies? The article also analyzes sociocultural factors that have contributed to the individual choices and strategies, which has in turn led to the emergence of a new fertility culture.