ABSTRACT
Population thought since 1949 and the government population policy often appear confusing due to the sophistication of China’s politics. Just as the Chinese population experienced a historic transition in forty-eight years, the population thought in China since 1949 has gone through a dramatic change. Whether China had an overpopulation problem was a political issue between 1949 and 1976 and then a development issue after 1977. This means that China’s population thought was strongly influenced by political ideology between 1949 and 1976 and equally strongly influenced by the economic development of the country since 1978. The most influential figure among those who believed that China’s population was a problem was Professor Ma Yinchu, who was the president of Beijing University and a representative of the National People’s Congress. When China’s population control policy was more driven by reality, the stated population thought was more a rhetoric of political ideology, which was confusing to many people.
