After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China’s one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.
In 1979, China’s leader Deng Xiaoping implemented the one-child policy, limiting families to having one child in order to control the population which was to blame for the economic crisis. The government used various propaganda techniques, ensuring that communities became fully indoctrinated complying with the law. Some of these strategies include promoting the policy in operas, commercials, billboards, and even children’s books. Families who followed the policy were rewarded with extra salaries and certificates yearly and there were ceremonies held for family planning officials who consistently upheld the law.
Village officials forced sterilization and the midwife reported that she aborted over 50,000 babies, some as late as 8-9 months along. Women who resisted sterilization were captured, tied up and drugged. Males were highly favored to carry on the family name so female fetuses were discarded in the trash or left out in alleys for someone to pick up; most of them died within days.
Director Nanfu Wang returns to China to interview the older generation regarding their feelings about the one-child policy. Among them were her own aunt who threw away her baby girl when she was born, the midwife who performed most of the abortions, and the village leader who enforced the law. Most of her interviewees said they had no choice but to abide by the law, some claimed that if they hadn’t introduced the policy the people would have starved because there wasn’t enough food for large families and many just agreed with the law. I was stunned with some of the reactions, although there were many who had remorse with regards to how they participated, like the midwife. She admitted that she felt horrible about getting rid of so many unborn children and to reverse the karma she has transitioned from performing abortions to helping families who have difficulty conceiving.
I can’t stop thinking about how it was never taken into consideration that the policy jeopardized the health of so many women. No one card about the aftermath of shame and guilt, having to be sterilized against your will and abort your own child. I think about those discarded little bodies in the trash because they weren’t valued as much as boys, something those women will think about for the rest of their lives. I was sickened at how there was never a thought about sterilizing of any of the men as a solution to reducing the population. As a matter of fact, there was no accountability towards men at all. Powerful documentary, difficult to watch at times but really informative and opens conversation about not only women’s rights but human rights.
“One Child Nation” recently premiered at the 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival and will have a theatrical release August 9th
