Editing Deng Xiaoping (section)

=== Population control and crime control ===
{{Main|Family planning policy|1983 "Strike Hard" Anti-crime Campaign}}
China's rapid economic growth presented several problems. The 1982 census revealed the extraordinary growth of the population, which already exceeded a billion people. Deng continued the plans initiated by Hua Guofeng to [[One-child policy|restrict birth to only one child]], limiting women to one child under pain of administrative penalty.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Family Planning in China |url=http://www.china-un.ch/eng/bjzl/t176938.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619013045/http://www.china-un.ch/eng/bjzl/t176938.htm |archive-date=19 June 2018 |access-date=28 November 2019 |website=www.china-un.ch}}</ref> The policy applied to urban areas, and included forced abortions.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Wang Feng|author2=Yong Cai|author3=Baochang Gu|title=Population, policy, and politics: how will history judge China's one-child policy?|url=https://archive.org/details/625751-population-council-population-policy-and-politics|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=38|date=19 February 2013|pages=115–129|doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00555.x|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In August 1983, Deng launched the [[1983 "Strike Hard" Anti-crime Campaign|"Strike hard" Anti-crime Campaign]] due to the worsening public safety after the Cultural Revolution.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |title=People's Daily Online -- China rejects "strike hard" anti-crime policy for more balanced approach |url=http://en.people.cn/200703/14/eng20070314_357516.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018113603/http://en.people.cn/200703/14/eng20070314_357516.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 October 2020 |access-date=21 June 2020 |website=en.people.cn}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> It was reported that the government set quotas for 5,000 executions by mid-November, and sources in Taiwan claimed that as many as 60,000 people were executed in that time,<ref>{{Cite web |title=In Human Rights, China Remains in the Maoist Era &#124; the Heritage Foundation |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1985/06/in-human-rights-china-remains-in-the-maoist-era |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516232433/http://heritage.org/Research/Reports/1985/06/In-Human-Rights-China-Remains-in-the-Maoist-Era |archive-date=16 May 2011 |access-date=31 January 2017}}</ref> although more recent estimates have placed the number at 24,000 who were [[sentenced to death]] (mostly in the first "battle" of the campaign).<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=3 August 2013 |title=Strike less hard |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/china/2013/08/03/strike-less-hard |url-status=live |access-date=23 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323192208/https://www.economist.com/china/2013/08/03/strike-less-hard |archive-date=23 March 2019}}</ref> A number of people arrested (some even received [[Death-penalty|death penalty]]) were children or relatives of government officials at various levels, including the grandson of [[Zhu De]], demonstrating the principle of "[[Equality before the law|all are equal before the law]]".<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|author=Choi Chi-yuk|date=26 January 2018 |title=Detentions, torture, executions: how China dealt with mafia in the past |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2130679/chinas-decades-long-battle-organised-crime |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622162409/https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2130679/chinas-decades-long-battle-organised-crime |archive-date=22 June 2020 |access-date=21 June 2020 |work=South China Morning Post}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Tao |first=Ying |title=1983年"严打"：非常时期的非常手段 |url=http://history.people.com.cn/GB/205396/12999227.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622051609/http://history.people.com.cn/GB/205396/12999227.html |archive-date=22 June 2020 |access-date=21 June 2020 |website=history.people.com.cn |language=zh}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=1 July 2010 |title="严打"政策的前世今生 |url=http://criminallaw.com.cn/article/default.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203123314/http://www.criminallaw.com.cn/article/default.asp |archive-date=3 February 2020 |access-date=21 June 2020 |website=criminallaw.com.cn |language=zh}}</ref> The campaign had an immediate positive effect on public safety, while controversies also arose such as whether some of the legal punishments were too harsh and whether the campaign had long-term positive effect on public safety.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Trevaskes |first=Susan |date=2002 |title=Courts on the Campaign Path in China: Criminal Court Work in the "Yanda 2001" Anti-Crime Campaign |journal=Asian Survey |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=673–693 |doi=10.1525/as.2002.42.5.673 |issn=0004-4687 |jstor=10.1525/as.2002.42.5.673 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10072/6536}}</ref>

Increasing economic freedom was being translated into a greater freedom of opinion, and critics began to arise within the system, including the famous dissident [[Wei Jingsheng]], who coined the term "fifth modernization" in reference to democracy as a missing element in the renewal plans of Deng Xiaoping. In the late 1980s, dissatisfaction with the authoritarian regime and growing inequalities caused the biggest crisis to Deng's leadership.