1949年至1990年短短的四十年間，中國的總人口數由5.4億猛增至11.4億，淨增了近一倍，飆升速度之快堪稱舉世矚目的「人口奇蹟」。毛澤東（1893-1976）為中共建國以來最有權力的領導人，也是推動各項重大政策的主要決策者，故他的想法與態度對於當時政府所欲推行的人口政策具有強烈的指導作用。 中共建國之後，毛澤東雖在不同的場合中曾多次提出節育和計劃生育的觀點，主張應實行有計劃的控制人口生育政策，但仔細推敲後不難發現毛的決策往往是基於政治鬥爭與環境的變動所做的反應，非從實際且客觀的情勢下著手；此外，毛長期處於新的世界大戰不可避免的虛幻氛圍中，要隨時準備打仗，就當時中國的武器裝備水準而言，豐富的人口資源幾乎是惟一的優勢，為了保證兵員的數量，就必須有眾多的人口。 總結來說，毛澤東人口思想的實際上是「人多好辦事」。且直到1976年去世，毛不僅沒有公開發表自己任何有關節育和計劃生育的文字論述，更沒有像其他的領導人那樣在公眾中有一個明確地贊成計劃生育的形象。毛澤東對人口問題認識的偏差，使中共失去了建國後人口問題上的最佳選擇，雖然晚年時毛澤東也初步覺察到人口眾多的嚴重性，但建國後20多年來所累積的巨大人口基數，也埋下中國難以處理的人口危機。 The number of population in China had dramatically increased from 540 million to 11.4 billion within forty years (1949-1990 ), which clearly doubled the previous record. This phenomenon at time was acclaimed as “The Miracle in Population.” Mao Zedong （1893-1976）as both the core leader and strategic thinker in possession of greatest power had been implementing a series of significant policies then. His behaviors and acts thus functioned as the fundamental principles for the government to apply the policy concerning population control into practice. After the establishment of People’s Republic of China (PRC) , Mao Zedong had frequently proposed the concepts of birth control and schemed birth on various occasions and claimed his persistence in exercising the enacted policy over the policy for birth control. However, it’s rather apparent to tell most of Mao’s strategies were rooted from the urgent reaction to the chaotic environment full of political struggle and variables instead of dealing with situations empirically and objectively. Moreover, , the upcoming world war seemed too unavoidable to happen; the nation should have armed itself from any external threats. Given that the inadequacy of advanced weapons, the great population as the force on battlefield played as the only edge to be maintained. In brief, Mao’s ideology centered on “Many hands make light work”. Unlike others leaders declaring their achievements in birth control, Mao didn’t openly announce any literal statements over birth control and schemed birth. The lack of comprehensive understanding about the potential risk of population inflation put the whole policy to backfire after the foundation of PRC. In his late life, Mao started to realize the seriousness led by the vast population at the early stage. The accumulation of mass population in China had seeded for upcoming irreversible consequences, endless problems brought by the mass population accumulated in the past twenty years since the establishment of PRC.
