Overview
- State media hailed Peng, who led the Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, as an “outstanding leader” after her death in Beijing just days before her 96th birthday.
- Weibo users responded with harsh criticism, sharing accounts of suffering and accusing authorities of forced abortions and sterilisations during the policy years.
- Reporting notes that the one-child mandate, in place from 1980 to 2015, was often enforced by local officials through coercive measures, especially in rural areas.
- Coverage links the policy’s legacy to today’s demographic downturn, with China falling behind India in 2023 and recording about 1.39 billion people in 2024, with 2025 data expected next month.
- By the 2010s Peng said the policy should be eased, as Beijing now pushes childcare subsidies, longer maternity leave and tax benefits to raise births while contending with a shrinking, ageing population.