Economic reforms and fertility behaviour in rural China: An anthropological and demographic inquiry

How have Chinese economic reforms which started in the late 1970s affected individual fertility behaviour in rural China? This research attempts to ex plain how the deliberate policies of institutional reforms affect fertility outcomes through processes which are both filtered by, as well as reshape, existing social institutions. It is based on fieldwork in a Hebei village from July 1992 to November 1993. It finds that after the reforms, rural Chi nese marry at earlier ages. However, declining age at marriage does not inc rease fertility. Rural couples prefer to have fewer children, and their mot ivation of having girls becomes stronger.