The Outlook on procreate

　　In the pastoral area, unmarried men go out herding and help with household chores. But married men often sit aside and sip tea and chat. Yet, there is no change for women. Married or unmarried, women work hard all the time.

　　Women in the pastoral area make decisions on food expenditure for the whole family. Usually it's up to them to decide what and how much to buy, but it's the husbands who go shopping. Not only in buying food but in buying daily necessities, too. In a family, the husband is in charge of finance and the cash is usually in his possession. The wife owns her own property, such as valuable clothes and ornaments, which may amount to several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, after generations of accumulation. A mother passes on these valuable objects to her daughters or sisters.

　　The Central Government has been carrying out a preferential population policy for ethnic groups. In fact, there has been a quite high birth rate in the pastoral area. With the improvement of medical conditions, the Tibetan population has increased at an unprecedented rate. In 1984, to alleviate the pressure on social and economic development due to over-developed population, the Tibet Autonomous Government advocated family planning among Tibetans working for the government, and city dwellers, but not among Tibetan peasants and herdsmen who constitute 88 percent of the population in the Tibet Autonomous Region. For the northern Tibetan pastoral areas, some family planning departments are working according to "Provisional Measures for Family Planning in the Tibet Autonomous Region". But their priorities are "publicizing family planning and serving herdsmen". They let herdsmen do what they are willing to do and focus on the health of mother and child and the general quality of population.

　　Because of lack of historical documents, we could not figure out the development of population in the No.5 village of Yuqag. But according to village cadres and elders, in the past 10 years, the population has doubled to more than 200. Due to their belief in Buddhism, they usually don't agree to controlling the fast growing population by abortion. Yet, the excessive growth of population in recent years has made people realize its negative effects on family life. We found that, owing to economic causes, herdsmen have started to employ anti-pregnancy methods. Because children usually leave their parents after marriage and only one remains to wait on the elders, plus the tradition that female or male, when they get married, children take the property under their names with them, so more children mean less livestock per person, hence lower living standards. To keep up their living standards, they must raise more livestock which may lead to deterioration of the grassland because of overuse. That, in turn, affects livestock raising. The common purpose of raising more children is to have more laborers and to provide care and support in old age. Usually, a family would have 2-4 children, who would grow up to be excellent workers and take the burden from their parents' shoulders. Among the 61 women in No.5 Village in Yuqag, apart from 20 women who are above 50 and three who haven't given birth after marriage, 12 among the other 38 women have taken anti-pregnancy measures. Among the 12 women aged 24-48, eight have three children, four have two.

　　In addition, the outlook on male and female plays an important role in the development of the local population. Herdsmen believe that girls are more vulnerable to be bullied outside the family, so they usually don't marrytheir daughters to places far away from home. At the same time, if a son-in-law moves to live with his parents-in--laws, he has the same right to inherit the property and to become its head, instead of being looked down upon by the family or society. So, many families like to marry their sons off to their daughters-in-laws' families. This custom not only curbs the size of families in pastoral areas, but also greatly influences local people's idea about children. They would not agree to sons inheriting family properties at the expense of daughters.

　　Women in pastoral areas give birth twice at an interval of less than two years. That doesn't include natural abortion. In the past, owing to harsh working conditions, many new-born babies and mothers died during labor. During the past 40-odd years, the government has made an unremitting effort in improving medical conditions in the Tibet Autonomous Region, so the birth and health standards have been improved. In 1992, there were 10 medical hospitals and clinics in Amdo County. For every one thousand people there were 4.76 medical workers, some specialized in women's and children's health. At hospitals at the town and county level, there were departments of gynecology and obstetrics. In addition, there was a special clinic for women's and children's health. These medical institutions had made health examinations for 3,151 women and children in 1992. Early in 1991, World Women and Children Foundation had approved Amdo County to be one of the counties that would have reached the women and children health standards by the end of this century.