Proportion of single-son families is not the only relevant factor -- there is also risk of US intervention and attitudes toward casualties, as you point out -- but it is important to consider. This thinking naturally tends toward contrasting China with Russia, which has sent millions to the front since 2022 without successful domestic revolt or reform of war policy.
Yet it seems on the single son families question, the two states are not actually much different. Proportion of families with children who have only 1 child, and that child is a son: 24.2% China, 23.6% Russia. Proportion with only 1 son, regardless of daughters: 49% China, 48.2% Russia. (Usual caveats w/ using Claude.) TFR can be necessary but not sufficient for war hesitancy; the interests at stake, national politics, and other factors seem essential for explaining such an attitude.
"Single son" is not the only factor for sure, it's a mitigating factor that plays a role on top of the larger issues I get into here. Russia is a very different case- similar to the US, Russia has been at constant war, including within its own borders, for several decades. War dead are venerated, and you have a similar national sense of dealing with war casualties as the US does. Even so, you still see Russia now leaning heavily on foreign recruitment and human trafficking for frontline troops.
Proportion of single-son families is not the only relevant factor -- there is also risk of US intervention and attitudes toward casualties, as you point out -- but it is important to consider. This thinking naturally tends toward contrasting China with Russia, which has sent millions to the front since 2022 without successful domestic revolt or reform of war policy.
Yet it seems on the single son families question, the two states are not actually much different. Proportion of families with children who have only 1 child, and that child is a son: 24.2% China, 23.6% Russia. Proportion with only 1 son, regardless of daughters: 49% China, 48.2% Russia. (Usual caveats w/ using Claude.) TFR can be necessary but not sufficient for war hesitancy; the interests at stake, national politics, and other factors seem essential for explaining such an attitude.
"Single son" is not the only factor for sure, it's a mitigating factor that plays a role on top of the larger issues I get into here. Russia is a very different case- similar to the US, Russia has been at constant war, including within its own borders, for several decades. War dead are venerated, and you have a similar national sense of dealing with war casualties as the US does. Even so, you still see Russia now leaning heavily on foreign recruitment and human trafficking for frontline troops.
Minor issues, in the national military museum in Beijing there is footage of the full military burial of the Galwaan casualties on display
And what year did the Galwan casualties get added to the display?