One Child Nation

Those of you who did not attend the showing, REALLY missed out!  It was a riveting journey as the filmmaker, Nanfu Wang,  asked her family and village how the one child policy impacted them... She discovers that the repercussions  of the policy have hit her home..... more than once.   I was unaware that th  Hines government was basically sanctioning the kidnappy and selling of the second or unwanted children. I was unaware that women were forced to have “ abortions”as late as 8 to nine months into a pregnancy.  The government had successfully convinced the nation and those who suffered the atrocities of this horrible policy, that while it was tragic, it had to happen.  One woman stating that the nation would have had to resort to cannibalism if the one child policy had not been enacted.  The midwife who said she killed 20,000 - 30,000 babies in the name of the one child policy appears to be the only repentant perpetrator of the policy seeking redemption.  She helps people with fertility issues.  All the other enforcers, seemed to range in attitude from “ it’s what we were told to do,” to “ it had to be done for the good of the nation.”

The family that took the unwanted babies to the orphanages to keep them from dying and received  money were sent to jail for human trafficking. Yet, the government officials did the same thing after ripping the babies from families who wanted to keep them.   The orphanages sold these children to adoptive parents from around the world. It turns out that all these babies were not left by the side of the road.   These babies are the nation’s cash cow.      

 

The ultimate irony is that the government that spent 35 years convincing its people that they must only have 1 child to save the country is now putting the same effort into now convincing the nation to drink the two child kool aid.  

I marvel at the tenacity and courage of Nanfu in returning to China, not just once, but at least twice to make this film.  And apparently taking her infant son along with her. I guess it is appropriate as her son is what made Nanfu decide to investigate the one child policy and document it’s effects.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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