China's implementation of pronatalist policies has been highly uneven

• China's pronatalist policies have not reversed fertility decline or increased population growth to a sustainable rate, demonstrating the limits of state-led interventions in family decisionmaking.
• China's implementation of national fertility policies is highly uneven across regions, with national directives producing a patchwork of local practices that reflects administrative fragmentation and variable capacity.
• China is leveraging technological innovation and artificial intelligence to address demographic challenges, but existing population and resource variation will limit capabilities for technology to solve challenges arising from an aging population.
• Chinese government officials and academics call for greater coordination and cohesion in policy responses to reverse demographic decline, with particular focus on structural changes, such as expanded child-care services and housing policy adjustments.

There are opportunities to boost fertility by helping people who already want more children to have them

• Survey literature addressing Chinese fertility intentions among the broader Chinese population reveals opportunities to boost fertility by helping people who already want more children to have them, rather than trying to increase desire to have children.
• Social media sentiment analysis shows that Chinese social media users are optimistic in posts addressing new pronatalist policies but express pessimism in posts that address policy implementation, reflecting poor policy execution and lack of structural support.
• China's fertility decline reflects unmet fertility intentions, not a lack of desire to have children. Pronatalist policy misses the mark by targeting norms and administrative reforms rather than enabling those intentions by addressing social or economic constraints.