| Abstract: | The Second National Symposium on Population Theory focused on the problems of population and their solution associated with the 4 modernizations. The following issues discussed by 7 Sumposium panels are summarized: population development theory in the socialist society; population problems in China and their solution; population policies and legislation relating to population control; population distribution and migration; population estimation and population planning; and population research and the establishment of population theory. Discussants agreed that the comprehensive investigation of population principle in a socialist society is of great importance to decisionmaking in the area of China's population development policy. Several different issues arose concerning the content and critical areas in the development of a socialist population principle. More than 1 principle is operating in socialist population theory, but the most important is the principle of population reproduction. The point was made that in addition to the population principle specific to individual society, there exists principles that are common to every society. The consensus was that population growth is associated with all the economical, political, and idelogical developments and that among these the association between population growth and economic development is the most significant. The current major population problem in China was identified as maladjustment between population growth and economic development. This maladjustment has led to problems in the areas of education, employment, transportation, and housing. The fundamental solution was identified as improving economical development to increase the material reproduction and controlling the population reproduction. In addition to birth control policies, it was suggested that population policies should include the geographical distribution and migration of the population. There was wide support for the proposal to legislate population control. It was agreed that such legislation would promote the progress of population control and assure its success. Discussion of the problems of population distribution and migration concentrated on the population problems of the urban area and minority ethnic groups. It was suggested that a nationwide census be conducted in population planning, population legislation, and population theory investigation. In order to establish the socialist population theory, it is essential to clarify the subjects, scopes, and methods of population research. |
