Power Relations in Reproductive Decisions Under the Transforming Family Planning Policy in China

China’s family planning policy has had a profound influence on individuals and families for the past 30 years. The universal two-child policy implemented in 2016 is its most relaxed form. The consequences of the policy transitions are worthwhile to explore. By interviewing 26 middle class mothers who gave birth to a second child during the policy transformation, we consider women’s accounts of their reproductive decisions-making processes. We found that the participants exerted strong agency in their reproductive decisions, but meanwhile they were reproducers and embodiments of traditional culture, population policies and patriarchal power. They internalised various modes of power that dictate how women should regulate their bodies, reflecting the mechanisms of self-governance. Self-governance functions as a subtle technique of conflict avoidance through which explicit conflicts are dissolved and transformed into intrapersonal self-adjustment and personal struggle. Our research broadens the conceptualisation of self-governance by incorporating relational dynamics using evidence from China.