One-Child Policy in China

China introduced strict population controls at the end of the 1970s, usually described as the one-child policy. Rules varied by province, ethnicity, residence and family circumstances, but local officials used birth permits, fines, employment pressure, contraception and, in many cases, coercive abortions or sterilisation to meet demographic targets.

Enforcement reshaped marriage, gender expectations and relations between households and the state. The policy contributed to smaller families and an ageing population, while sex preference and uneven enforcement produced lasting social consequences. The national one-child framework was replaced by a two-child policy in 2015.

Mo Yan’s Frog places a rural midwife at the centre of this system. Her movement from saving mothers and infants to enforcing quotas allows the novel to examine political obedience, bodily autonomy, remorse and the informal reproductive markets that developed around official restrictions.