| Abstract: | The economic reform practiced in the vast rural areas in China gives a great impetus to the vigorous development of rural economy and the the rapid improvement of living standard. Meanwhile, reform pounds at the traditional childbearing ideas. The striking change in the childbearing attitudes of the farmers of the Jin County is a good example. As the farmers of the country are getting well-off when the commodity economy develops rapidly with the rural economic reforms, their childbearing attitudes change. Profound changes have taken place in their mode of production and their life style. The young couples of the county begin to seek small families instead of traditional big ones. They are convinced that under the new situation of reforms, the farmers of an old generation are in no way competent as the head of the family to guide production and therefore want to build their own small families by freeing themselves from the binds of the traditional patriarchal system. The increase in the cost of bringing up children and the economic loss resulting from the absence from work for looking after children constitute another reason to prefer a small family. The son is no more the only economic guarantee for the aged. As a result of the rapid development of the rural economy, a retirement system has been established among the farmers of the Jin county. "It is unreliable to expect that the son will support his aged parents. Now it is better to earn more money and the collective can be depended upon by the aged." |
