What does Song Jian's original 1995 self-credit for the one-child policy actually say, in the Chinese source Greenhalgh translated?
The note
claim-song-jian-self-credited-1980-projections-triggered-one-child-policy
rests on the phrase "[our 1980 projections] shocked the scientific circles and
politicians, [leading the government to] follow a policy of 'one child system.'"
This is Susan Greenhalgh's (2005) English translation of Song Jian's 1995 essay —
a doubly-mediated quote. The bracketed insertions are the translator's, and the
original Chinese wording was not located at capture time. Flagged
[unverified-quote].
Why it matters
Song's self-attribution is one of two independent pillars under the "Song caused the policy" story (the other being Greenhalgh's external thesis, at question-verify-greenhalgh-song-one-child-policy-causal-role). A self-credit quote carries real weight only if it says in the original what the translation says — and the bracketed reconstructions ("[leading the government to]") are exactly where a causal claim could be sharpened in translation beyond what Song wrote.
What would answer it
- The bibliographic identity of Song's 1995 essay: title, venue, exact citation as given in Greenhalgh 2005's footnotes (the CQ PDF should name it).
- The original Chinese passage, to confirm (a) that Song claims his projections caused the policy rather than merely informed or preceded it, and (b) how strong the causal verb actually is before the translator's brackets.
Candidate next moves
- Pull the relevant footnote from the Greenhalgh 2005 PDF for the 1995 essay's citation.
- Search for the Chinese text (Song Jian 宋健, 1995, population/一孩 policy essay) and, if found, have the original passage translated independently.
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