The reaction on Chinese social media to Peng’s death in Beijing on Sunday, just shy of her 96th ‌birthday, was less positive. Beijing launched the one-child policy as leaders worried about population growth potentially spiralling out of ⁠control. But China’s population, long the world’s highest, later slowed and last year tumbled for the third year in a row. “If the one-child policy had been implemented for 10 years less, China’s population would not have plummeted like this!” a Weibo post said. As population ‌tsar, Peng focused her commission’s work on the countryside.

Source: Bangkok Post December 25, 2025 12:50 UTC