Eugenic birth and fetal education: the friction between lineage enhancement and premarital testing among rural households in mainland China

In: The China journal: Zhongguo yan jiu, Heft 64, S. 121-142

Abstract

This article examines hundreds of Chinese handbooks on family planning, reproductive life, and the creation of high-quality offspring. It queries the emphasis these handbooks place on education and individual awareness, arguing that both the eugenic aspirations of the state and its focus on individual choice are misplaced when applied to rural regions. I argue that birth-planning and genetic awareness cannot be understood adequately without considering the interest of individuals and family-households in their sociocultural and economic contexts. Rather than following state reproductive policies, rural households take into account the effects of population planning and use these in their own interests. Though the interests of the state, individuals and households interact, they do not converge. Rather than presuming that increased education and awareness will raise interest in premarital testing, this article argues that the agency of the household overrides the wishes of the individual and the state to undergo premarital testing, not so much despite, but thanks to, eugenic education. (China J/GIGA)