Message from victoriachan

[Anonymous]

kluna had posted: I had never learned about these traditional Chinese ideas of becoming. According to Professor Yan, individuals are defined by their social relations and their fulfillment of social expectations. I have also never heard anyone Chinese discuss abortion, but it is rational that under these beliefs, a fetus would not be considered a human. I would really like to pose the question to my students to have them consider what makes a human “self?” Generally speaking, a fetus is considered a human by American standards (the debate usually comes in the developmental stage of the fetus). But it is interesting to consider if any actions should play into becoming a human and leaving your mark on earth. My students are mostly Latino, which makes them more conservative and pro-life, but I would like to hear their thoughts on the need to fulfill social duties.
It made me wonder about the abortion rate in China, and I found this article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9933468/336-million-abortions-under-Chinas-one-child-policy.html
According to this article, there have been 336 million abortions because of China’s one-child policy. That’s about the same as the population in the U.S., which to me is astronomically high. I understand why this is necessary, and it completely makes sense considering that not curbing the population growth in some way would be detrimental not only to China but also the world as it would further climate change. It’s just a hard figure to wrap my head around. It appears that China is in need of a sex education program of some sort to prevent this, but I also wonder how many of those abortions were due to forced abortions when families wanted to try for a son after exceeding the limit of children.

Personally, my family has experienced life under the one-child policy. When I was younger, one of my aunts, who had recently immigrated to the U.S. at the time, spoke candidly about having her tubes tied right after giving birth to her son. She said, “I was already at the hospital so the doctor just did it because it was more convenient.” From her tone, it was just everyday life of a mother in China. I imagine this is very different from what my students are used to hearing about since most of them are Latino or Black.