What it was like to grow up under China's one-child policy | Nanfu Wang

China's one-child policy ended in 2015, but we're just beginning to understand what it was like to live under the program, says TED Fellow and documentary filmmaker Nanfu Wang. With footage from her film "One Child Nation," she shares untold stories that reveal the policy's complex consequences and expose the creeping power of propaganda.

[roqayabadawy]

Basically, under that policy, there was no such thing as an aunt or uncle or even first cousins

[jupitired]

The story of the midwife was so sad :(

[davidparson]

"no society where propaganda replaces truth can be truly free."

[ash_is_a_unicorn]

Okay but her baby is literally the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen.

[bmcinstyle]

So many people who doesn't get her point here, listen to what she said at the end, that's the real message, this video isn't even about the one child policy. The real question is, which country is truly free?

[haoweishi]

I was born under the one child policy and I moved to the Uk at age 9. I didn’t understand the concept of having siblings, ie parents having more than one child. I was so confused when people asked me at school if I had any siblings

[dqyi]

The message she wants to send is that propaganda does not happen only in China, sadly it is happening in many places all around the world at this moment.

[xlyoutube]

Saw many questions in the comment section so I thought I'd share some information about this policy here:


1. It is ok to have twins or triplets - you wouldn't be fined.
2. If you belong to one of the 55 minority groups you are allowed (in most cases) to have more than one child. Those 55 ethnic groups make up 8% of China's population or roughly 112 Million people （today's population).
3. If your first child has a disability you may be allowed to have a second child.

4. The child(ren) you had in your previous marriage(s) doesn't count as long as they don't live with you. If you're remarried you are allowed to have another one.
5. The policy was discussed and introduced in 1978. The goal at the time was to reduce annual population growth rate to below 1% within 3 years.

6. The National Population and Family Planning Committee was formed in 1981 to oversee this policy. It was merged with Ministry of Health in 2013. In 2018 the words "Family Planning" were officially dropped.
7. Starting from 1984, if you and your spouse are both single child you can have two children.

8. Forced abortion and sterilization were common in rural China but relatively rare in cities.

9. In spring of 1991 there was a gruesome, large-scale "100-days without babies" movement in a rural town in Shandong. Local government implemented a full-scale "crackdown" resulted in zero newborns in the town of 500, 000 in 3 months.
10. A study in 2013 showed the total population of "single child" is around 218 million.

11. The vocabulary of family relationships, once incredibly rich and complex in Chinese, is on decline. Single child doesn't have siblings and consequentially a single child's children don't have uncles or aunts, nor first cousins.

[SankofaAncestorShrine]

They took the precious work of midwifery and forced her into a vile trade. That's not how birth work is supposed to be. I'm so sorry for that midwife 😔

[bcgrote]

The women were sterilized. Not the men. And where are these "only sons" going to get brides? Argentina?

[lillyvoe]

I was born in 2005 under the 1 kid rule in china I was abandoned as an infant and left alone at a police station. I was taken in by a foster home and adopted at 13 months old .This is my story and I'm so thankful my mother didn't abort me

[xsy]

Tbh, I am grateful that i was born under this policy as a GIRL.. i never doubt that my parents and my family love me very much. they devoted so much to me and invested so much in my education. they had provided me with the best that they could.

but when i was growing up, i heard the story so many times that my dad was disappointed to hear i was a girl in the beginning. and my grandparents had to always tell me that girls are the same as boys (i think they were trying to convince themselves rather than me). i had to hear my family call other people lucky to've had a boy. the sexist ideology is deeply embedded. when i was 7, my uncle was expecting a baby, and the whole family started wishing for a boy. let me tell you, the 7-year-old me felt relief when i learned it turned out to be a girl also. i'm not saying a boy cousin would cause me all the love and attention from my family, but it would certainly change the family dynamic for sure.

[nope]

If her Ted talk is this gripping, I can't wait to see the doco!!!

[JRD_Youtube]

Hearing the story of the midwife was probably the most powerful part of this. If history has taught us anything, it is that most of us wouldn't stand up and be the heroes we imagine that we are. Most of us would bend to the will of our leaders and do horrible things in self preservation.

[dontknowdontcare]

It’s a mentality in some country that a daughter would not be able to take care of her family after marriage and will have to provide for her husband’s family only leaving her parents helpless which is why people also wanted to have a son so that he would be able to provide for the family
However this has changed since in today’s time female can provide for the family as well but it is still very hard to change a persons mentality which they have since they were born

[kangaegushien]

As a adopted chinese girl I wonder how my life would have been if this law had never existed

A really beautiful video

[linneabergquistolsson]

I was born in the one child policy, in the year 2003. I was abandoned at 3 days old in front of a hotel. Was brought into an orphanage and adopted 1 year later. So happy to be alive although I don’t say it enough!!

[anaml]

This speech should have been longer. She is right propaganda change the way we see people different from us without giving ourselves a chance to judge by our own experiences.

[lyttlebee]

Now you can have as many babies as you wish in china, the country now needs more labor force. But few people would like to have more than one baby due to economic concerns.

[vikas]

Earlier gov pushed one child policy, now parents choose it due to economic reason