ABSTRACT
China has been the world’s most populous country for a long time. The Chinese government embarked on family planning initiatives to address the concerns about the capacity of existing resources raised by the ballooning population. It officially introduced its iconic one-child policy at the national level in 1979, under which most Chinese couples were permitted to have only one child. For over 30 years, the one-child family has been the dominant type of family structure in China. China’s one-child policy has given rise to widespread concern about the social-emotional learning of children who grow up as “only children” in the family. The benefits of access to high-quality ECE in promoting children’s cognitive and social-emotional skills have been well documented. Over the last decade, puhui kindergartens (PhKs) have been boosted as an innovative strategy in China to address the “3A” problems and support the nationwide universalization of ECE for children between ages 3 and 6.
