Chinese villagers outraged as officials publish list of contraceptives used by them
London, Mar 14 : Villagers in southern China have expressed anger over local officials' decision to publish a list of each family's preferred method of contraception, saying it would help enforce the one-child policy.
The list, put up on a bulletin board in a village in the city of Dongguan, gave the names and ages of married couples and detailed whether local women had been sterilized or whether they used condoms or contraceptive coils.
It was removed after Chinese media visited the village this week, the Telegraph reports.
One of the villagers told Guangdong province's Southern Metropolis newspaper that the move is a total disregard for their privacy.
Zhan Zhongle, a Peking University law professor, told the Beijing-based Global Times that it was illegal for the local government to disclose the private information for the good of family planning work.
According to the paper, China's one-child policy was introduced in 1979 following a 1950s baby boom that sparked fears of a potential demographic crisis if the number of births was not brought under control.