Only Hope: Coming of Age Under China’s One-Child Policy [Paperback]

Vanessa Fong (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 080475330X | ISBN-13: 978-0804753302 | Publication Date: March 15, 2006 | Edition: 1

The first generation of children born under China’s one-child family policy is now reaching adulthood. What are these children like? What are their values, goals, and interests? What kinds of relationships do they have with their families? This is the first in-depth study to analyze what it is like to grow up as the state-appointed vanguard of modernization. Based on surveys and ethnographic research in China, where the author lived with teenage only children and observed their homes and classrooms for 27 months between 1997 and 2002, the book explores the social, economic, and psychological consequences of the government’s decision to accelerate the fertility transition.

Only Hope shows how the one-child policy has largely succeeded in its goals, but with unintended consequences. Only children are expected to be the primary providers of support and care for their retired parents, grandparents, and parents-in-law, and only a very lucrative position will allow them to provide for so many dependents. Many only children aspire to elite status even though few can attain it, and such aspirations lead to increased stress and competition, as well as intense parental involvement.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The first thing that makes Fong’s book stand out from others is its timely presentation of the consequences of China’s one-child policy, rather than being a discussion of the phenomenon in its early stage. Now that Chinese singletons are reaching adulthood, the consequences of the one-child policy have become a powerful social force driving Chinese society in an unprecedented direction. The second thing that makes Fong’s book unique is its ethnographical research. Her in-depth personal experience enables her to observe and reveal the social reality of contemporary China. This vividly presented reality shows the outcome of the one-child policy interrelated and integrated with the political, educational, cultural, and economic systems of China.”—CHOICE

“Vanessa L. Fong’s Only Hope: Coming of Age under China’s One Child Policy is an enjoyable read and an informative study of only children in urban China....[T]he main strength of Fong’s book lies in the combination of solid survey data with equally solid information gathered through interviews and everyday observations....Fong’s book will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students of contemporary China. It will be of particular interest to those who want to learn more about urban China’s education system, which is fiercely competitive and demanding.”—The China Journal

"...solid scholarship that pushes the boundaries of our understandings of the consequences of extreme fertility control and a highly readable and enjoyable volume."—American Journal of Sociology

From the Inside Flap

The first generation of children born under China’s one-child family policy is now reaching adulthood. What are these children like? What are their values, goals, and interests? What kinds of relationships do they have with their families? This is the first in-depth study to analyze what it is like to grow up as the state-appointed vanguard of modernization. Based on surveys and ethnographic research in China, where the author lived with teenage only children and observed their homes and classrooms for 27 months between 1997 and 2002, the book explores the social, economic, and psychological consequences of the government’s decision to accelerate the fertility transition.
Only Hope shows how the one-child policy has largely succeeded in its goals, but with unintended consequences. Only children are expected to be the primary providers of support and care for their retired parents, grandparents, and parents-in-law, and only a very lucrative position will allow them to provide for so many dependents. Many only children aspire to elite status even though few can attain it, and such aspirations lead to increased stress and competition, as well as intense parental involvement.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (March 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080475330X
• ISBN-13: 978-0804753302
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Much Needed Scholarly Work on Contemporary China, October 27, 2005

By 

Rick (Hong Kong, China) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Only Hope: Coming of Age Under China's One-Child Policy (Hardcover)

This book is based on the author's ethnographic fieldwork as part of her doctoral research in Northeastern China (the Yellow Sea port city of Dalian, to be precise) over a period of several years in the late 1990s. She came to know many students and their families intimately, and conducted extensive interviews and surveys with hundreds of other students. To my knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study of Chinese adolescents and one of the all too few dealing with this important population.

Fong examines the impact of the one-child policy from a sociological and educational perspective in rich detail and provides the likely less informed reader with thick descriptions of the sort that are now necessary to differentiate the experiences of today's Chinese youth. Though like-minded in some important respects, as the author makes clear in her thesis, these youth defy monolithic depiction.

However, it must be noted that this book, as valuable as a contribution as it certainly is, examines only a segment of China's vast adolescent population, most of whom reside in rural areas unlike those of this study.

Strongly recommended for the general reader with interest in contemporary China and required reading for those engaging in serious inquiry into the contemporary Chinese educational system and its familial connections.