Bereaved Single-Child Parents as the Focus of Family Planning Officials: State Support, Social Stability, and the Unresolved Consequences of China’s One-Child Policy

ABSTRACT The shidu problem as an unexpected consequence of the historical one-child policy has now become the new work focus of Chinese family planning officials. Given that the unresolvable dispute over state support has caused shidu activists’ continuous petitioning of governments, local family planning agents take the whole shidu group as a major instability factor while paying undue attention to them due to the strong impact of stability maintenance on their political career. Subsequently, the overemphasis on social stability and shidu families has led to alienation as reflected in the rising economic and social cost for the task. Ultimately, the shidu problem not only disrupts the central government’s plan to address population aging, but also will constrain the development of China’s future population policy.