Legacy of the One-Child Policy: Marriage Dilemmas in Urban and Rural China

Abstract

China’s one-child policy, the family planning policy enforced in 1980, continued for almost 36 years and created a lasting impact on both China’s declining total fertility rate (TFR) and its sex ratio imbalance. This paper discusses the marriage dilemma caused by the one-child policy and its separate outcomes in urban and rural areas. In urban areas, the expense for childbearing, the equated monthly installment (EMI) payments, and the self-consuming nature of marriage contributed to the declining marriage rate as well as the TFR. In rural settings, the surplus of single men due to the entrenched “son preference” created a demand for the bride-trafficking market, an industry of purchasing a bride as a form of property. In this paper, I conclude that the marriage crisis and its side effects are the legacies of the one-child policy, and the Chinese government needs to craft effective approaches in addressing these problems.