Davis 21 non-marital childbearing in Asia often stress traditions that prioritize father- hood for men,emphasize the filial duty to continue the family line,and make motherhood virtually mandatory for women to be treated as adults (Jones and Gubhaju,2009).In China,in addition to these shared Asian norms,the gov- ernment prohibitions against non-marital childbearing explicitly confine par- enthood to marriage regardless of ethnicity,religion,or educational background (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada,2009,2012).14 For this reason the one-child policy,which represents a powerful illustration of the CCP's continued commitment to a developmental state,makes the Chinese experience distinctive.At the same time,however,the one-child policy stands in contradiction with the CCP's own increased recognition and support for more individualized property claims and enlarged privacy rights that intensify privatization of marriage.5 To date,these contradictions have been muted by the CCP's support for expanded personal autonomy,greater economic freedoms,and minimal con- straints on sexual intimacy.Moreover,as the party-state continues to disen- gage from close surveillance of private lives and to extend the logic of voluntary contract to intimate relationships,its own actions (and inaction) serve to further privatize the institution of marriage. Acknowledgments This article could not have been completed without the expert interviews carried out by Professors Peidong Sun and Jun Zhang.I also benefitted greatly from comments by Juan Chen,Jane Duckett,Andrew Junker,Minhua Ling,Xuefei Ren,Helen Siu, Anthony Spires,Hania Wu,and anonymous Modern China referees. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s)declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,and/or publication of this article. Funding The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship,and/or publication of this article:Field work for this research was sup- ported by a faculty research grant from the Cheng-Lee Endowment of the Council of East Asian Studies at Yale University. Notes 1.Until 2003,couples still needed permission of their village head or employer to file the papers.However,with the implementation of new marriage registration regulations (Minfa,2003)couples could petition entirely on their own and as we see in Figure 2,CDR surges upward between 2004 and 2010. Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12,2014Davis 21 non-marital childbearing in Asia often stress traditions that prioritize father￾hood for men, emphasize the filial duty to continue the family line, and make motherhood virtually mandatory for women to be treated as adults (Jones and Gubhaju, 2009). In China, in addition to these shared Asian norms, the gov￾ernment prohibitions against non-marital childbearing explicitly confine par￾enthood to marriage regardless of ethnicity, religion, or educational background (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 2009, 2012).14 For this reason the one-child policy, which represents a powerful illustration of the CCP’s continued commitment to a developmental state, makes the Chinese experience distinctive. At the same time, however, the one-child policy stands in contradiction with the CCP’s own increased recognition and support for more individualized property claims and enlarged privacy rights that intensify privatization of marriage.15 To date, these contradictions have been muted by the CCP’s support for expanded personal autonomy, greater economic freedoms, and minimal con￾straints on sexual intimacy. Moreover, as the party-state continues to disen￾gage from close surveillance of private lives and to extend the logic of voluntary contract to intimate relationships, its own actions (and inaction) serve to further privatize the institution of marriage. Acknowledgments This article could not have been completed without the expert interviews carried out by Professors Peidong Sun and Jun Zhang. I also benefitted greatly from comments by Juan Chen, Jane Duckett, Andrew Junker, Minhua Ling, Xuefei Ren, Helen Siu, Anthony Spires, Hania Wu, and anonymous Modern China referees. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Field work for this research was sup￾ported by a faculty research grant from the Cheng-Lee Endowment of the Council of East Asian Studies at Yale University. Notes 1. Until 2003, couples still needed permission of their village head or employer to file the papers. However, with the implementation of new marriage registration regulations (Minfa, 2003) couples could petition entirely on their own and as we see in Figure 2, CDR surges upward between 2004 and 2010. Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12, 2014