Abstract:

The Advocacy Coalition Framework，a replacement for policy stage theory，has long been used in analyzing policy
changes in western countries. Based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework，this paper analyzes the three phases of the change
of China’s family planning policy: the exploration phase when PRC was first founded，1970s when the policy was under
formulation and 1980s when the policy was completed and launched. With the analysis we test the practicability of Advocacy
Coalition Framework in interpreting China’s public policy change. Although there exist some problems in its interpretation of
the change process of China’s family planning policy due to political and social differences，Advocacy Coalition Framework
still provides us with a new way to understand policy change.

Key words: China&rsquo, s family planning policy；the Advocacy Coalition Framework；the change of China&rsquo, s family planning
policy；the one-child policy；the second child-allowance policy