AbstractA decade ago China's population policy, and associated programmes, had many admirers. Although it was often argued that China's methods of reducing levels of fertility and population growth were not transferable to other countries, elements of the population programme were held up as examples to be followed. In recent years however there has been a sharp decline in support for the programme amongst the global community. Media coverage of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo (1994) exemplified this evolving distaste for the methods used to control population growth in China. This paper is an attempt to discover whether this change of perception is grounded in a proper understanding of the relevant facts and in a consistent application of ethical principles to the changing population policy. It brings together evidence on trends in fertility, population policy, the provision of family planning services, and socio‐economic influences on the demand for children, to clarify the complex and diverse demographic situation emerging in rural China. It then examines the conflict between policy and reproductive aspirations revealed by studies of ‘ideal family size’ and of rising reported sex ratios at birth. An ethical framework is then presented, and the consistency of two major critics of the policy/programme are examined through it. It is concluded that the One‐Child Family Policy, as it operated in the early 1990s, led to widespread adoption of out‐of‐plan babies and sex‐selective abortion. However, arguments against the need for any form of population control are unconvincing, and there is little evidence to suggest that alternative population control policies would be demographically effective or receive widespread popular support