Examining the one-child-per-family movement (OCFM) in China using Lloyd Bitzer's "Functional Communication: A Situational Perspective," this essay provides insight into how rhetoric has functioned and is functioning in this difficult situation. A brief geographic review provides a basis for understanding the complex set of problems surrounding the OCFM. Traditional beliefs concerning male offspring and old age are shown to constitute the most powerful threat to the movement. The OCFM is then discussed in terms of four categories proposed by Bitzer to extend his original formulation of the "evolution of situation": (1) origin and development of constituents--describing the development of the OCFM in China since the early 1970s, particularly the establishment of the State Family Planning Commission; (2) maturity--depicting the role of the Chinese government as the movement developed, focusing on the extensive planned parenthood regulations; (3) deterioration--recounting the problems that led to the breakdown of the movement in the 1980s, such as rising female infanticide rates and strong resistance from rural areas where economic factors encourage large families; and (4) revitalization--documenting a two-fold strategy for renewing the movement: emphasis on publicity and mass education, including improving the status of women in society, and a softening of the incentive program. (JD)