Hunan
I. Basic Figures
The east, south and west sides of the whole province are surrounded by mountains and hills .The center and north parts are bit low and the U-shaped basin is formed with Dongting Lake as its center. The mountains and hills occupy more than 80% of the area and the plane is less than 20% in the whole province.
II. Population Situation
By the end of 1997 the total population in Hunan was 64.65 million but it was not evenly distributed. Most of its population spread concentratedly on both sides of the mid and down stream river valley of Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li rivers and in the plane areas of Dongting Lake in the north of Hunan from ancient times. These areas were plane with fertile land, convenient irrigation and concentrated arable land. It was early developed and a famous agricultural production area and the grain base up till now with superior natural conditions. The population density per square kilometers was 300 to 600 people. Late development, few arable land, inconvenient traffic, inferior natural conditions and sparse population were in the remote mountain areas in the west and south parts of Hunan. The population density per square kilometers was from 200 to 300 people in some regions and less than 200 in some other regions. In a word due to the special natural environment and topography, the center and north parts of Hunan were densely populated and the remote areas were sparsely populated and this population situation had remained up till now.
After the founding of new China, the total population in Hunan exceeded 30 million in 1950, 40 million in 1966, 50 million in 1976, 60 million in 1989 and reached 60.6580 million at the Fourth Population Census in 1990 and it was more than doubled of the population 29.8683 million in 1949. The population growth and change in Hunan had mainly gone through 5 stages. The first stage(1950-1957): It was a period for the restoration and development of national economy and favorable for population growth. During this period the contradiction between the population growth and the development of social economy was still not yet exposed. People neglected the importance of population control and it caused the population rise in straight line. The birth rate in this stage had remained at high level of more than 30‰. Due to the improvement of medical health cause, the mortality rate was dramatically declined, the natural increase rate rose correspondingly and the first birth peak was formed in Hunan. The total population was 29.8683 million in 1949 and reached to 36.0324 million in 1957. The average annual growth was 770,500 and the average annual progressive increase was 23.70‰.The population reproduction pattern before liberation was transferred from “high birth rate, high death rate and low growth rate” to a new pattern of “high birth rate, low death rate and high growth rate”. The second stage (1958-1961) : As a result of some mistakes made in the economic policy and development principles of China plus the three consecutive years of severe natural calamities, great losses caused to the national economy especially the agricultural production and the living standards and health of the people worsened. The birth rate from 33.4‰ in 1957 decreased to 12.5‰ in 1961 and the death rate however from 10.41‰ in 1957 increased to 29.42‰ in 1960. The natural increase rates were –9.93‰ and –4.97‰ respectively in 1960 and 1961 and it was in the birth bust period of population development in Hunan. The total population from 36,0324 million in 1957 decreased to 35.0798 million in 1961 and the average annual reduction was 238,200. The special situation of “low birth rate, high death rate and negative natural increase rate” appeared in population reproduction but it did not represent the transferring trend of population reproduction pattern in Hunan. The third stage (1962-1973): A compensatory baby boom appeared in Hunan through the overall readjustment, restoration and development of national economy. The birth rate from 12.5‰ in 1961 increased to 41.40‰ in 1962, the death rate from 17.48‰ reduced to 10.23‰ and the natural increase rate from –4.97‰ to 31.16‰ and even reached to 37‰ in 1963. The second big baby boom was formed and it had remained to early 1970s. During this period the “cultural revolution” began in May 1966, the population control work just started had to be suspended. The total population increased from 35.0798 million in 1961 to 48.0979 million in 1973 and it was the most rapid population growth period. Then it was changed to the population reproduction pattern characterized by high birth and low death rates resulting in a high growth rate. The fourth stage(1974-1984) : It was a planned population controlled development period in Hunan. China had incorporated the population development in the development plan of national economy since 1973 and the family planning work was popularized in the urban and most of the rural areas. The population control policy in China inserted in the constitution in 1978. The result of population control was obvious after advocating “one couple, one child” in China in 1980s. The birth rate fell from 29.21‰ in 1973 to 16.66‰ in 1984 while the death rate remained constant at 7‰-8‰.The natural increase rate went down from 21.15‰-9.46‰.The population reproduction pattern shifted from “high birth rate, low death rate and high growth rate” to “low birth rate, low death rate and low growth rate”. The fifth stage (1985-1990) : It was the third birth peak period in Hunan. The population born during the second baby boom constantly entered into the marriage and child bearing age in the mid 1980s and this caused the big rebound to the birth rate of population. After the practice of household contracted responsibility system for production with remuneration linked to output, the household production function was enhanced, the reproductive desire of peasants strengthened and the implementation of family planning policy could not accommodate to the new situation, All these also had some influence to the rebound of birth rate. From 1984 to 1990 the birth rate rose from 16.66‰ to 23.93‰, the growth rate from 9.46‰ to 16.70‰ and the total population increased from 55.6132 million in 1984 to 61.1089 million in 1990. The average annual growth was 916,000, the average annual progressive growth rate was 15.83‰ and it remained constant to the mid of 1990s. Therefore the family planning work should not be slackened in the 1990s, otherwise it would again lead to the loss of control in population growth with serious consequences.
The sex ratio of Hunan was 105.42 in 1997. The population was 60.6580 million at the Fourth Population Census in 1990. Among them 31.4976 million for male accounting to 51.93% and 29.1604 million for female accounting to 48.07%. The sex ratio was 108.02 and a slight decrease than 108.07 in 1982. Hunan was one of the provinces with relatively high sex ratio. The relatively high sex ratio at birth was the man-made interference to some extent especially in the rural areas. The phenomenon of relatively high sex ratio both existed in the mortality and migration population. To look from the changes on the age and sex ratio of Hunan in 1990, firstly the sex ratio of low age group rose, secondly the ages for the sex ratio was less than 100 became higher and thirdly the sex ratio of peak age period for marriage went down. Besides the differences existed between urban and rural areas and among regions for the sex ratio in Hunan. The sex ratio was high in the towns, then in the cities and the lowest was in the rural areas. In 1997 the total population was 64.65 million, the population from the age of 0-14 was 16.1580 million, from 15-64 was 44.7160 million and from 65 and above was 4.7970 million. The total dependency ratio was 46.86%, the dependency ratio of the young was 36.13% and of the aged was 10.73%.
Since the founding of new China, the fertility rate of women in Hunan had been gradually declined, especially since the mid of 1970s, with the economic development and implementation of family planning policy, the reproductive level of women had been reduced to a larger extent. The women reproductive pattern changed from the natural one into the deferred, spaced and fewer birth pattern in 1970s and from the latter one into the family planning pattern in 1980s. It was the third birth peak from mid 1980s to mid 1990s. The base figures of women who were in the exuberant reproductive period were large, the fertility rate was still relatively high, early and multi-births still occupied certain proportions and the task for controlling the population growth was very arduous.
In recent years the decreasing trend of reproductive level had appeared in Hunan, it had reduced to a lower level in the urban areas and to some extent in the rural areas. There was still a big gap according to the demands of control goal for population growth and the effective measures need to be taken in order to change the situation on the high fertility rate in some rural areas. The birth rate was 12.59‰ and the natural increase rate was 5.6‰ in 1997 in Hunan.
Before liberation the mortality rate was relatively high in Hunan, it was not less than 25‰ according to estimation. Early after liberation (in 1950) it reduced to 20‰, it began to be less than 10‰ in 1967, 9‰ in 1971, 8‰ in 1976, it was 7.03‰ in 1981, 7.23‰ in 1990, 6.99‰ in 1997 and the total mortality rate had remained steady at about 7‰ in recent years in Hunan. The population size was constantly increased and the number of deaths went up year by year. The male occupied larger proportion in the total number of deaths and among the population of deaths in 1981 and 1989, the male accounted for 52.48% and 55.46% respectively. The infant mortality rate reached to 45.23‰ in the rural areas, 23.81‰ in towns and 27.47‰ in cities in 1990. Hunan has 250,000 old people above the age of 80 in 1982 and 375,400 in 1990. 89 people lived to be above the age of 100 in 1982, 186 people in 1990 and the age of deaths became more and more higher.
Before liberation the life expectancy estimated not to be above the age of 35. After the founding of new China, with the speedy improvement on the quality of life and health, the average life expectancy prolonged to a large extent. It was 65.43 years old in 1981, 68.14 in 1989. There were differences on the average life expectancy between the urban and rural areas. It was 68.81 in cities, 70.01 in towns and 64.87 in rural areas in 1981 and it was 70.55, 71.49 and 67.61 respectively. The average life expectancy of the female was higher than the male.
In 1997 Hunan had 49.5130 million population at the age of 15 and above, 9.7260 million unmarried, 17.3760 million of first marriage with spouses, 841,000 remarried with spouses, 395,000 divorced and 3.2990 million bereft of spouses. The proportion of unmarried in the population of marriage age reduced, among them the reduction extent of the male was larger than the female, but the unmarried ratio of the male was higher than the female. Regardless of the male or female the population ratio in the divorced status was a bit low and the relationship of the marriage families was relatively stable. The population ratio in the bereft of spouse status was reducing and the reduction extent of the bereft of spouse ratio for the female was larger than the male. The healthy level of the population improved to some extent. The average age for the first marriage reduced and early marriages increased. The marriage rate went up and the proportion of population with spouses increased. The unmarried ratio of the male youths with relatively higher ages in the rural areas was high. The divorced rate went up and the proportion in the number of divorced young people evidently increased.
In 1997 the number of family households was 18.5390 million, 1.1970 million single households, the number of households with one generation, two and three generations was 2.0150 million, 11.9490 million and 3.3780 million respectively and the size of family households was 3.53 persons per household in Hunan. The changes of the family size and patterns had the following characteristics: (1).The number of family households constantly increased and the average household size already reduced to a low level. (2).The proportion of households with 3-4 people obviously went up. (3).It was in sharp contrast that the households with two generations going up and with three generations coming down.
At the end of 1997 Hunan had 4.4150 million aged population at the age of 65 and above, 102,000 increased than the year before, it occupied 6.83% of the total population and approached to 7%� the world “aging society” level. The characteristics of population aging were as follows: (1). The growth speed of the aged population was rapid and the aged population increased faster than the total population. The total population growth was 12.31% and the aged population growth was 25.16% in 1990 compared with 1982 in Hunan. (2). The number of aged population was large. Hunan took the seventh place in the total population of all provinces and autonomous regions in China and it took the same place as regard to the aged population.(3). It was unevenly developed. The development of population aging was not balanced due to different economic development level. (4). The economic development level was extremely advanced compared with the existing situation. The economy and culture was not yet developed in Hunan and it entered into the process of population aging with the condition of low average income per person. The changes of age structure for the aged population in Hunan from 1982 to 1990 were as follows: The growth speed of old age people was faster than the young old age people, the proportion of the young old age people in the total aged population decreased and the proportion of old age people increased. The average age of the aged population went up and the age medians increased. To look from the sex structure, the higher the age and the lower the sex ratio. The aged population mainly centred on the rural areas and then the cities and towns. The educational quality of the aged population was low, the illiteracy rate was high and the divorce rate was low. The family size of the aged population inclined to miniaturization, but it was larger than the general family size. The employment rate of the male aged population was much higher than the female and the employment rate of the aged population in the rural areas was higher than in the towns.
8. Population Quality
In 1949 Hunan had only 5 very small sized schools of higher learning (one private school), 321 middle schools, 32,700 primary schools. There were 9 university students, 383 middle school students and 6,437 primary school pupils per ten thousand people. The attendance rate of school age children was 46.9% and the illiteracy rate was 80% in the whole province.
In 1990 the total population in Hunan was 60.6580 million, there were 44.7818 million above the primary school level accounting to 73.83% of the total population. Among them 689,900 people with university level, 4.8661 million people with senior middle school level, 13.7042 million people with junior middle school level and 25.5216 million people with primary school level. The number of population with different educational level per ten thousand was as follows: 1,137 with university level, 8,022 with senior middle school level, 22,593 with junior middle school level and 42,074 with primary school level. The number of illiterates and semi-illiterates was 7.4256 million accounting to 12.24% of the total population and the illiteracy rate was 16.99%.
In 1997 Hunan had 61.5040 million population above the age of six and 5.9280 million illiterates and semi-illiterates. The numbers of population above the primary, junior and senior middle school and college level were 27.8820 million, 20.0900 million, 6.3610 million and 1.2430 million successively. The overall educational quality of the population in Hunan was relatively low and there were big gaps in various lines of business and in the population with different age and sex and in different regions. There were also gaps between the cities and rural areas. The educational quality of the male population was higher than the female.
9. Migration and Population Floating
The population migration in Hunan could be roughly divided into two different stages:
The period from 1949 to 1981 : The reason for migration was mostly to comply with political demands. It was mainly passive but not spontaneous migration. The migration was mainly to the lower level such as to support economic construction in the mountain, remote and backward areas or to send cadres and educated youths to the countryside with difficult conditions to temper themselves.
The period from 1982 to 1990 : The number of migration increased year by year, the migration from the parallel level to mainly the higher level and the reason for the migration was mainly the economic factors. The reasons for migration are work transfer, assignments and employments, study and training, living with relatives or friends, withdrawing from office and retirement, family members who followed with the migration, in-migration due to marriages and so on. The migration proportion of population who were engaged in industry and trade increased to the largest extent.
10.Population, Resource and Environment
Since 40 years establishment of China, the rapid growth of population and the sharp decrease of arable land in Hunan caused great pressure to the grain production and the average grain occupancy per person increased only from 247kg. in 1950 to 444kg. in 1990. The average energy occupancy per person was also very low, the coal reserve per person was very low, the coal reserve per person was only 50 tons and it was 1/17 of the coal reserve occupancy per person in all China. The contradiction between supplies and demands of water resources was intensified with the rapid growth of population. More population, less arable land and inadequate resources of arable land were the characteristics of provincial situation of Hunan and it was also the important factor to restrict the development of population and economy.
The main problems of population and environment were the ecological damage and environmental pollution. Firstly the water losses and soil erosion , desertification, forest decrease, lack of water resources were the main features of ecological damage. Secondly to take cities as the center and the aerosphere, water body, flotsam and jetsam of solid body and noise as the emphasis of environmental pollution. These two issues threatened the life and health of the people, restricted and obstructed the development and leap of the economy.
With the constant deep-going of publicity and education for the environmental protection, the environment awareness of the leaders at various levels and masses of the people gradually heightened. Hunan had established 497 square kilometers flue dust control areas and 190 square kilometers areas where noise standard reached. The achieving rate of drinking water quality index, the afforestation coverage rate, the industrial waste water treatment rate, the comprehensive management rate of the industrial solid body wastes in cities equally increased to some extent and 1,389 enterprises with serious pollution had bee closed and tackled. Due to the inadequate input for the environmental protection, the discharge capacity of “the three wastes ” still increased, The situation of aerosphere and acid rain pollution had not been evidently changed.
III. Family Planning
The family planning work started in mid 1950s and it underwent roughly four development periods.
After liberation the social economy restored and developed speedily, the livelihood and sanitation conditions of the people improved constantly and the population increased rapidly in Hunan. The birth rate evenly remained above 37‰ from 1950 to 1953 and the total population of the whole province was from 29.8669 million in 1949 to 33.4970 million in 1953.
Early 1950s some women suffered a lot on early births, dense births and more births and they started to have the demands of birth control. In 1955 the Provincial Public Health Bureau held the first forum on birth control and discussed on the issue of contraception and birth control. In 1956 the provincial meeting on maternal and child health care was held and it was the first time for the leaders of the provincial government to formally set force for gradually practicing birth control in the whole province, actively publicize contraceptive knowledge and give full support to those who had excessive births and were eager to practice contraception and birth control. After the meeting the related institution conducted a test at selected point on birth control. At the same year the provincial Women’s Federation, Trade Union, Education Bureau and Public Health Bureau jointly issued an announcement and pointed out: Besides of the publicity and guidance to women on the health care during the menstrual and pregnancy periods, to actively publicize the contraceptive knowledge in order to lead women to have planned births and surmount practical difficulties for women with more children. In 1957 another announcement issued and it demanded to launch massive publicity on birth control in the whole province, strengthen the guidance on contraception and birth control in order to combine the technical guidance with policy publicity. At the same time the provincial and people’s committees jointly issued 《Instructions on further practicing birth control work》and requested various regions of the province to further practice birth control on a large scale, especially to strengthen the publicity and guidance on the birth control work in the rural areas. At the end of same year relevant leading agencies were speedily set up and the unified leadership practiced on the birth control work. The birth control work was fully underway in the urban and rural areas of the province. In autumn 1958 due to the influence of “the great leap forward” and the criticism to Mr. Ma Yinchu’s population theoty, the birth control work had to be stopped in the whole province.
After the three consecutive years of difficult period on economy, the birth rate from 12.51‰ in 1961 increased sharply to 41.4‰ in 1962 in the whole province. The Provincial Birth Control Commission resumed its work and then changed to the Provincial Family Planning Commission in 1963. At the same year the Provincial Committee approved 《Opinions on the family planning work》drafted by the Provincial Family Planning Commission and requested the urban areas to take the lead and then promote the family planning in the broad rural areas. In 1964 the Hunan Provincial Committee further pointed out: On the basis of widely practicing family planning in the urban areas and firmly grasped the implementation, actively conducted tests in the selected points in the rural areas and made it fully underway on the basis of summing up experiences.
“The Second Provincial Meeting on Family Planning Work” convened in Changsha in 1965. It requested that the birth rate from 42‰ in 1964 decreased to 32‰ in 1965, emphasized that various regions to start the work from the densely populated areas in cities, towns and rural areas and strove as soon as possible to open up a new prospect for family planning. The vast rural areas rapidly set off a new upsurge on family planning activities. In December of the same year the provincial committee again convened “The Third Provincial Meeting on Family Planning Work”. It emphasized that the focal point on family planning work should be placed in the rural areas and served for the numerous peasants and agricultural production. Just when the family planning work was fully underway in the whole province, “the cultural revolution” began, it caused serious shock to the family planning work. It basically lost control of births and led Hunan to the birth peak period for more than 10 years(1962-1971).
In 1971 Hunan issued 《The announcement on establishing the leading group for family planning work》,it caused once paralyzed leading agency for family planning to resume its work. The key responsible persons at provincial level repeatedly emphasized to do the family planning work well in some of the meetings. From 1970 to 1973 the leading groups and working bodies for family planning were set up at provincial, prefecture, municipal and county levels and the full time family planning workers were provided. The leading groups for family planning were also established in many districts, communes and brigades and persons specially assigned responsible for the work or concurrently in charge of it. There was a great development in building technical contingent. The main work for family planning was as follows: The publicity and mobilization were widespread, various policies and regulations were made known to the public one after another, the technical guidance was strengthened and the tendency of rapid population growth was effectively controlled. The birth rate from 29.13‰ in 1971 decreased to 17.84‰ in 1979. The total fertility rate of child-bearing women in the rural areas from 6.5 in 1970 reduced to 2.4 in 1980.
After the Third plenary Session of the Eleventh Conference of the Chinese Communist Party in December 1978, the family planning work in Hunan entered into the great development period. The following work was done in this period:
Firstly the leaders paid much attention to it and insisted on grasping “the two kinds of productions” together. Leaders at various levels in the province incorporated the family planning work into their agendum, practised to grasp “the two kinds of production” together and grasped more tightly year after year. From 1990 to 1993 the provincial committee and government demanded the number one leaders in the party and government to grasp the work personally and shoulder the whole responsibility, and insisted on using “the two rulers” of population growth and economic development to judge the practical achievements of the leaders at various levels in the party and government. The responsibility management on the population goal was practiced in the prefectures, autonomous prefectures and municipalities, From 1991 to 1993 the Commissioners, Mayors and county magistrates meetings were held in three consecutive years respectively. Research on special topics for the family planning work was carried out, the implementation situation on the population goal in various regions was evaluated and the population awareness and the sense of urgency on population control of the leaders at various levels were strengthened. Secondly the reproductive policies, laws and regulations were further improved. In 1979 the provincial committee put forward to advocate that it was better for one couple to have one child and no more than two children and those who had only one child and decided not to have the second child should be praised and awarded. Thirdly to deepen the reform and promote the overall development of all kinds of work for family planning. Massive work had been done in organizational structure, management systems, improvement of working methods and making full use of mass organizations. Fourthly the scientific research on population and family planning had been constantly developed and relative achievements obtained from the research projects on tackling key problems of science and technology and the application of birth control techniques.
Through the work from mid 1950s to early 1960s, it changed gradually from natural births to planned births. Especially since the overall promotion of family planning in 1970s, great achievements had been made in family planning work in the whole province.
(1). To effectively restrain the tendency of rapid population growth, promote the social and economic development. The total fertility rate of women was 6.04 in 1950s, 6.16 in 1960s, 4.11 in 1970s, 2.59 in 1980s and only 1.72 in the whole province in 1993 and it reduced to lower than the replacement level. The birth peak value age of women was 21 in 1957, it raised to 22.5 in 1963 and again raised to 24.5 in 1993. The birth rate was 30.75‰ in 1970, it reduced to 14.08‰ in 1993 and it had reduced to 16.67‰ in 24 years.
(2). The quality of health and education of the population improved. To take the health quality of the students as an example, from 1952 to 1992 the average per 10 years 2.85cm increased in the height of the boy-students at the age of 7-22 and 1.27kgs. increased in the weight. 2.23cm increased in the height of girl-students and 0.79kg. increased in the weight. To look from the education quality of the population, there were 26.67 university students, 110.24 senior middle school students, 431.04 junior middle school students, 3,373.2 primary school pupils per ten thousand in 1964 and it raised to 113.8, 801, 2,256.7 and 4,207.1 per ten thousand respectively in 1990.
(3). The mass concept on marriage and reproduction had been greatly changed. Quite number of male and female youths consciously perform the late marriage and late birth and the number of children of the numerous child-bearing women was reduced. The multi-birth rate was reduced from 65.5% in 1970 to 2.19% in 1993. More than 85% of the child-bearing age women taking measures on contraception and birth control. The family planning rate was 93.98% in 1997 and 2.11‰ increased than it was in 1996.
Although great achievements had been made in family planning work, but still some problems were not allowed to be neglected and should be solved urgently. Some leaders regarded family planning as population quantity control only, they did not grasp firmly on improving population quality and adjusting population structure. The basic work in some places at grass level was not sturdy, the implementation of birth control measures was not in time and no strong measures for quality services. The floating population increased, change of personnel was complicated, family planning work was more difficult and the management systems and working conditions of some household committees could not correspond to the demands of new situation, The above problems need to be solved quickly with effective measures.
Reference
1. 《Century Crossed China Population》
(Hunan Volume) China Statistics Publishing House 1994
2. 《China Statistics Year Book》 Volume 1998
China Statistics Publishing House 1998
3. 《Atlas of the People’s Republic of China by Province》
China Map Publishing House 1990
4. 《China Population Year Book》Volume 1998
5. 《China Family Planing Year Book》Volume 1995
China Family Planning Year Book Editorial Board 1995
6. 《Hunan Statistics Year Book》Volume 1998
China Statistics Publishing House 1998
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