Wei hun liu chan: hou she hui zhu yi Zhongguo de sheng yu zheng zhi

Ph.D.This study examines issues surrounding reproduction among the unmarried population in China by focusing on the experience of abortion in relation to the institution of family, the state, and the market. It aims to analyze the impact of the sociopolitical and cultural transformations in China during the past three decades on the lives of women, and their responses to these structural changes. The findings are drawn from fieldworks conducted between 2013 and 2016, which include semi-structured interviews with 62 women who had had premarital abortions and 18 medical workers and ethnographic observations in multiple medical facilities in two cities in east and north China. Based on the findings, I introduce an analytical framework that incorporates the individual, relational, and social dimensions of reproduction to understand the phenomenon of premarital abortion in post-socialist China amidst the ending of the one-child policy. The framework suggests that the decisions and experiences of premarital abortion are situated in a web of interpersonal relationships that are entwined between the women, their male partners and their parents. These relationships serve as the interfaces that connect the women reproductive selves to the macro social structures, and are interweaved in the lives and reproductive behaviors of the Chinese women. These relationships defined and constituted the women’s identities. Therefore, the women consider not only their interests but also the well-being of their parental and future families when confronted by an unintended pregnancy. They adopted a pragmatic approach to resolve an unintended pregnancy, which usually involves postponing marriage and childbearing and opting for abortion, which was one of the very few available options that could preserve their present interests and future life plans. This study depicts and analyzes how women negotiated their individual aspirations and their relationships with their male partners and their parents during pregnancy resolution. On the one hand, it shows how adult women have benefited from the market reform through paid employments, increased sexual freedom, migration, and urbanization, which gave them greater control in the intimate and familial domain; on the other hand, it also reveals the persistent and emerging structural constraints that limit their agency and undermine their autonomy, including the gendered division of labor that confines women in the domestic sphere, the obligation imposed on women to procreate and nurture a quality child, the restrictive sexual mores that suppress female sexuality, the hukou system that reinforces urban-rural disparities, and gender discriminations in the job market. Based on this evidence, I argue that abortion is an essential option for women to exercise their bodily control and to survive in an increasingly uncertain, stratified, and competitive society. However, these conditions are insufficient to empower women in China to achieve reproductive autonomy. To enhance individuals’ reproductive freedom and increase fertility, policy should be directed at eliminating discriminations embedded in governmental measures based on gender, class, and migration status in the job market, promoting universal sex education in school, supporting non-profit medical institutions to provide quality reproductive healthcare, and providing incentives for unmarried couples to get married and have children.本研究以未婚流產為題，探討中國未婚人口的生育意願，以及生育行為在當代中國社會中與家庭和婚姻制度、市場及政策的關係。透過聚焦流產這私密而具社會性的行為，本研究旨在理解改革開放後的政治、社經和文化轉變如何影響中國女性的生命歷程，以及她們對這些結構性社會變遷的回應。本論文的數據來自作者於2013至2016年在中國東部和北部兩個城市進行的田野研究，包括62位曾經歷未婚流產的女性和18位醫護人員的訪談，以及在多間醫療機構的田野觀察。在後社會主義中國及開放一孩政策的背景下，本論文透過結合個人、關係和社會層面的分析框架理解未婚流產和生育行為。這分析框架提出，中國女性的未婚流產決定和經歷均處於一個由個人與伴侶及雙親的關係交織而成的親密關係網裡，而這些關係亦把作為生育主體的個人連接並嵌入至宏觀的社會制度中。中國女性緊密依存於這個關係網，而這些關係亦定義了她們的身份；在面對未婚懷孕時，這些女性不但考慮個人利益，更會考量原生和未來家庭的福祉。她們往往採取務實的態度，以延遲婚姻和生育來處理突如其來的生育難題，以維持目前的生活狀態和保障未來的人生規劃。本研究反映了中國年輕女性一方面受益於近30年來的政策和市場改革：就業機會、性文化的開放、遷移的自由和大規模的城市化均使她們在親密關係和家庭領域獲得更大自主。另一方面，女性亦受制於固有及新形成的制度限制，包括強調女性家庭崗位的性別分工、強加於女性身上的生育及育兒義務、壓抑女性情慾的保守性規範、再製城鄉不均的戶籍制度，和職場的性別歧視等。本文強調，在現今充滿未知和競爭並愈益不平等的社會中，流產是中國女性體現身體自主並維持現有生活的重要手段，然而卻不足以令她們達致生育自主。政府應致力消除存在於市場和政策中的性別、階級和戶籍歧視、廣泛提倡性教育、支援非牟利專業醫療機構提供高質素的生殖健康服務，以及向未婚人口提供鼓勵婚育的措施，在保障生育自主的基礎上促進生育行為，以應對人口老化。Lai, Yuen Shan.Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2019.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-271).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 12, April 2021).Lai, Yuen Shan