[Guangdong calls for stronger birth control effort]

The Guangzhou Municipal CCP and Revolutionary Committees recently decided that the rural areas of Guangzhou must spend a concentrated period in the second 1/2 of this year in all-round implementation of the policies and measures on planned parenthood, to ensure that this year's target of keeping natural population growth rate below 10.5/1000 is met. Guangzhou Municipality has failed for 4 successive years to meet the population control target assigned by the provincial authorities. The natural population growth rate in 1979 was the highest of 10 major cities. In 1980 the city lagged behind 20 provinces and municipalities in the whole country in this respect. There was a serious rise in the birth rate in the city's suburban counties from January-July this year. As a result, the number of births in the area was 1700 more than in the same period last year. At the same time, there were 39% more marriages in the first 1/2 of the year in the municipality than in the same period last year. Thus, there is bound to be an increase in the number of legal births in the second 1/2 of the year. At present, an extremely conspicuous problem is the many rural pregnancies which are not covered by the plans and involved some 15,000 persons. The municipal CCP and revolutionary committees have therefore issued a circular demanding that all counties and districts spend some time in September and November to concentrate the leaders, cadres, and technical forces, create public opinion in a big way, conduct extensive propaganda, and mobilization, and do a good job in ideological work, to mobilize those who pregnancies are not covered by the plan to take remedial measures, and achieve a big rise in the rate of permanent contraception. The circular reiterated the policy principles in setting population targets, that is, advocating having only 1 child, strictly controlling the birth of a 2nd child according to the conditions, and forbidding the birth of a 3rd. The urban units must vigorously consolidate and increase the percent of people having only 1 child, and mobilize those expecting a 2nd child in circumstances that do not accord with the policies to take remedial measures.