Tianmen is China’s test site for baby-boosting policies

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the Tianmen experiment may end up revealing the limits of social control in today’s China. Injunctions against specific behaviours are potent. Officials can block protests, ban media or, as in the past, cut “excess” childbirth.

But when it comes to inducements – persuading people to marry, to move or to have babies – the state is far weaker. It is easier to turn people off than it is to turn them on.

Qn: How far should the state intervene in matters relating to one's body? (MI Prelim 2025)