Session 8 Mei Fong was our speaker during the session 8 second part of Saturday. What she had to say about the one child policy was fascinating. She herself is from a family that is unique and rare. She has 5 sisters. She joked that her father would always remind them, I think jokingly, that they brought him shame. She brought up many reasons why the government would have originally taken this stance and what the consequences are now. In her book One Child, Mei suggests that “ When the Communist party leaders adopted the one­child policy in 1980, they hoped curbing birthrates would help lift China’s poorest and increase the country’s global stature.” Now that China has stopped this policy they find themselves facing big challenges. When the people were told they could only have one child, many things happened. For girl infants this was a horrible time. Most families wanted males as their child. Since there were fines, imprisonment and more if the policy was broken, girls were killed in the hope that the next child would be a boy. There was a whole population of “second Children” that couldn’t be recognized, that can’t get jobs or be a part of society. How could you ignore or kill your own child? I can’t imagine what this would do to a woman's psyche. At the time I don’t think the government realized what the effect would be to all this population control. Now in this current time of China they have population issues. The men outnumber the women. The women that are present are waiting longer to get married, if they get married at all. Other crisis that happens such as the earthquake that killed many elementary aged students dealt China another blow and makes the population older still. The population is in a crisis. The last chapter in her book One Child, “Babies Beyond Borders” brings up the reality of what is happening now that women are waiting longer to marry and have children. The infertility rate has gone up dramatically. Women are flooding into fertility clinics to get help. Some are blaming pollution as the culprit for the increased rate. Women come even while they are young to try and have twins. They increase the odds of having boys and they aren’t frowned on since twins are counted as only one birth. If you have money you can even hire an American surrogate. Instant citizenship and benefits come along with coming to the US. Whatever the issues, women are seeking out ways to have children on their terms. Surrogacy, IVF, and other options. Most think China will not be able to fix this population crisis. Time will tell