ABSTRACT
As early as the 1950s, Chinese demographers had pointed out that no successful development of the country would be possible unless the birth rate were permanently reduced: even in those days, birth control was advocated from time to time. Contraception, late marriages, clinical abortion, and voluntary sterilization were viewed as the most important methods. But with the advent of the campaigns during the "Great Leap Forward" (1958-1960), when the masses sought to change the world, a huge population was looked upon as something positive, since there would be more manpower available to build the nation. Therefore, birth control was no longer practiced.
