On December 26, 2025, according to Epoch Times, Peng Peiyun, the former director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission responsible for China’s “one-child policy,” passed away in Beijing on December 21 due to illness. While Beijing officials praised her, netizens criticized her for causing misery to thousands of ordinary Chinese families.
The Chinese Communist Party implemented the “one couple, one child” policy from 1980 to 2015. Peng Peiyun served as the director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, a period marked by the harshest enforcement of the “one-child policy” by the Communist Party.
Under the coordination and implementation of the Family Planning Commission, forced measures were widely used to achieve the goal of “one-child,” including coercing pregnant women to undergo abortions and sterilization, and even killing babies about to be born.
At that time, bloody slogans promoted nationwide included: “Better to have blood flow like a river than to allow one extra child,” “One person violates the policy, the whole village will be sterilized,” “Better to add ten graves than one person,” “Hang the rope for those who violate, give the bottle of medicine for those who violate,” “Family planning is good, let the government take care of the elderly”…
The official obituary by Xinhua News Agency referred to Peng Peiyun as an outstanding Communist Party member, a loyal Communist warrior, and an outstanding leader in population health, women and children’s work, and socialist legal construction. However, social media platforms were filled with angry comments from netizens, along with memories of the tragic consequences of the “one-child policy.”
One netizen cursed on Weibo, “Peng Peiyun’s hands are stained with the blood of the people, she is one of the loyal executioners of the party! She has ruined China! Those aborted and naked dead children are waiting on the other side for you.”
Another netizen lamented, “If the ‘one-child policy’ had been implemented for ten years less, China’s population wouldn’t have plummeted as it is now!” Yet another netizen commented, “If those children were alive, they would be almost 40 years old now, in the prime of their lives.”
As the person in charge of the so-called “population control work,” Peng Peiyun focused the work of the Family Planning Commission on rural areas. Many women were subjected to forced abortions and sterilizations by the authorities. Those who refused could face unemployment, fines, physical abuse, or high-risk contraceptive surgeries.
In rural China, lacking government welfare, having more children was commonly seen as a form of retirement security. The “one-child policy” further exacerbated the unwanted phenomenon of female infants being abandoned or female fetuses being aborted.
The Communist Party’s so-called family planning not only brought lifelong suffering to countless ordinary families but also led to a decrease in China’s population and imbalanced demographics. Currently, China’s population has been in negative growth for the third consecutive year. Experts warn that this declining trend will accelerate in the coming years.
Population decline and aging have raised concerns, as the world’s second-largest economy will face challenges due to the shrinking workforce. Rising costs of elderly care and retirement benefits could also add budget pressures to already heavily indebted local governments.
Currently, Beijing is attempting to boost the low birth rate by providing subsidies for child care, extended maternity leave, and tax incentives to encourage Chinese citizens to have more children.
Some netizens commented that although the Chinese Communist Party is promoting childbirth, they still do not acknowledge the mistakes of the “one-child policy” or apologize to those who were forcibly aborted or sterilized.
Others bluntly stated that Peng Peiyun was just a murderous executor, with the real mastermind being the Chinese Communist Party.