Susan Greenhalgh, "Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng's China," (University of California Press, 2008)

China's one-child rule is unassailably one of the most controversial social policies of all time. In the first book of its kind, Susan Greenhalgh draws on twenty years of research into China's population politics to explain how the leaders of a nation of one billion decided to limit all couples to one child. Focusing on the historic period 1978-80, when China was just reentering the global capitalist system after decades of self-imposed isolation, Greenhalgh documents the extraordinary manner in which a handful of leading aerospace engineers hijacked the population policymaking process and formulated a strategy that treated people like missiles. Just One Child situates these science- and policymaking practices in their broader contexts―the scientization and statisticalization of sociopolitical life―and provides the most detailed and incisive account yet of the origins of the one-child policy. East Asian Studies Podcast Chinese History Podcast China’s one-child policy Susan Greenhalgh Just One Child Population control in China China’s population politics Social policies in China One-child rule origins Chinese family planning history Aerospace engineers and policy in China China’s reentry into global capitalism Scientization of sociopolitical life in China Statisticalization in Chinese policymaking Controversial social policies in China China’s demographic transformation 1978-80 Chinese policy changes Population control and social engineering Chinese social policy analysis Impact of one-child policy on Chinese society Historical analysis of China’s one-child rule Population strategy in modern China Chinese political decision-making China’s social and demographic history Policy formulation in Communist China