Whyte, Wang & Cai's footnotes for China's 1978 'contemplation' of a one-child policy cite neither the June 1978 leading-group meeting nor Document No. 69

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Whyte, Wang, and Cai's 2015 essay states that "already in 1978, the Chinese leadership began contemplating the need for a one-child policy," with footnotes 22 and 23 attached in that immediate passage. Footnote 22 cites Susan Greenhalgh's 2008 book Just One Child and Liang Zhongtang's 2014 book Zhongguo jihua shengyu shilun — not the 2003 Population and Development Review article or Liang's 2009 essay, consistent with the vault's existing finding that this article credits Liang's later books rather than his earlier essay elsewhere in its own bibliography. Footnote 23, in the same passage, reads in full: "The historical record is still unclear about the decision-making process lying behind the one-child policy. Chen Muhua, who was newly charged with developing an even more restrictive fertility regime, played a critical role in pushing for a one-child policy. It is reasonable to assume that she had strong support from leaders such as Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping."

Neither footnote names the June 1978 "three-day meeting," the State Council Family Planning Leading Group, Central Committee Document No. 69, or the "one is best, two at most" recommendation formula — and a full-text re-read of the essay (2026-09-10) finds none of "June 1978", "Family Planning Leading Group" or "Document No. 69" anywhere else in it either, so the omission is the article's, not just these two footnotes'. Those four items are precisely the evidentiary chain that Greenhalgh's 2003 article and Liang's 2009 essay each independently supply for that same June 1978 date. On direct inspection, the two document traditions arrive at "1978" by citation paths that never intersect: Whyte, Wang, and Cai's account rests on Greenhalgh's and Liang's later books plus an acknowledged gap in the historical record, not on the specific meeting either scholar's more granular work documents.