One Child Nation

One.Child.Nation.2019.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-KamiKaze

Like the film makers, most people I know of that generation are the one- child of the family. I never stopped to think of what might have happened to my friends' possible siblings. Or that their parents could have murdered, or given away their own babies. The shocking thing is how "ordinary" the perpetrators are. The 84 years old retired doctor who has killed thousands upon thousands of babies - a frail-looking grandma. The filmmakers' uncle who left his 2 day old daughter to die in the market. The fact that he recalls clearly that she would be 27 now, speaks volumes that he hasn't forgotten. The taxi drivers and garbage collectors who became baby traffickers. How to make sense of 35 years of state-enforced killings. How does the ordinary citizen agree to kill in the name of the state - not the Japanese / Nationalists / Capitalists - but your own child, an unborn baby? Murder your niece, granddaughter, cousin? The only answer I had from the movie was the artists' explanation. Decades of indoctrination (brain-washing). The self is not important. Only the collective, the state mattered. That ordinary folk had no choice, they had to kill, to do what the party/the state said to do. Terrifying and real. Must see. Must understand. China in a hundred years of war. From the 1911 Revolution, fighting the Japanese, the Civil War, the Cultural Revolution ending in 1979, then started the One-Child Policy, The internal war on population only ended in 2015. What was the death-toll? This time the casualties were women, babies and families.

You have leftist ideas? You think socialism is cool? It never works as advertised and you end up with serious horror called Communism!

Yes, this film makes a clear case for the serious consequences that happen when paternalistic societies fail to value and provide equal rights for women. Whether it's rabid anti-choice proponents in America who clearly feel that individual women should be denied the right to make reproductive decisions for themselves, or Chinese communist authorities who perpetuate the party line to force abortions and sterilization, the losers are always women and all of society. We all need to learn this lesson and this film makes this point in a devastating and personal way.

As I was watching this movie, I was captivated. It was absolutely horrifying what was happening to babies and fetuses during the One Child Policy. And I thought "wow, this is actually a pretty powerful case for Anti-Abortion." (I don't want to get into politics, so I won't be attacking the film for it's stance on the topic). The documentary really takes its time showing the humanity that babies have. And, as I was watching, I also thought "In what ways are we brainwashed by our culture?" I thought the documentary was going to be some disturbing fable about how governments brainwash their citizens. However, the film doesn't express that notion at all. It turns out that the U.S. is basically perfect and the whole movie was an ad for Pro-Choice. WHAT??!!?! What was the point of talking about the babies and all the horrible things they suffered if you really just care about the mothers? Long story short: the documentary doesn't know how to get it's point across well AT ALL.

A deeply thought provoking and emotionally confronting look at some the people affected by, or tasked with enforcement of China's one child policy established in 1979. The narrative is mostly driven by the film maker's recollections of her experience, and interviews with her family and others in the area where she grew up. Excellent film making, use of imagery, narration and examination of a number of different perspectives. Very sensitively approaching the subject, she was able to gently yet persuasively coax some truly shocking admissions of guilt from some of her interviewees. Be prepared for some awful images, but thankfully these scenes are not dwelt on for long as macabre voyeurism was not the intent, but to solidly make the point of what happened to many babies. The story told indicates that the one-child policy was implemented in a harsh, cruel, uncompromising and unforgiving way, although it seems the government eventually recognised the need to protect and find new homes via international adoption programmes for babies that were abandoned by their parents trying to avoid the harsh penalties that they would face. The only criticism is that there is not much in the way of analysis of the reasons that led up to the point of the introduction of the policy in China. This was hinted at by interviews with her mother, but not much else. For an example of a country that should have, but hasn't introduced population control measures, take a look at India. There, they have well over 100 million people enduring appalling, squalid, miserable poverty and hundreds of millions more struggling daily to eke out a meagre existence. Religious dogma and lack of understanding about environmental impact regarding unrestrained human reproduction are at least partly to blame for the coming crisis of over-population in most parts of the world. If the human race is to avoid large scale wars over food, water and climate change induced migration in the next 30 years, then global population controls need to be carefully introduced and incentivised, but not the way the PRC did it. Seen at NZIFF Wellington by a parent of one child.

There are always two side to a policy, however one need to understand the context which resulted in this "one child" policy. China was struggling to feed its people. Its either mass starvation or mass migration. In fact, many had left and these are the Chinese living all across South East Asia. Imagine there was no policy and the people did not leave. How many more millions would have died of starvation. So before anyone condemn this "one child" policy claiming that many unborn children aborted, think of the millions who could have died due to starvation. This story depict the evil of "one child" policy but there is another side of story that is untold.

The cause of gender imbalance and abandonment is not one chid policy. It is poverty and stupidness. If there was not one child policy, girls would be abandoned anyway, as those who gave birth to them did not have the money to raise them. Furthermore, these people will not be satisfied with only girls, they will try to give birth to more children until they have a boy. The girls will still be abandoned or have a more miserable life, such as be forced to marry others at a young age. In this sense, one child policy even helps a lot of girls, because it prevents those awful parents to give birth to more children until they get a boy. The truth beyond propaganda is that this policy really helps a lot of girls to have better lives. Since some family do not have son, they have no way but to afford their daughter to have better education and give their love to her. Those resources will only give to sons if there is no one child policy. This documentary fails to consider how these girls are benefited. These educated girls grow up, and gradually show that women are even better/stronger than men. They are changing the bias that girls are interior to boys. In a nutshell, this documentary is biased. It fail to see how one child policy actually helps a lot of girls to gain the chance of education and successfully grow up without taking care of their little brothers or just be abandoned.

Having researched both sides of the issue, I can agree the one child policy had suffered from certain excesses that impinged on people's rights. However, I completely disagree with the sensationalized nature of this "documentary" that frames the policy as a sinister plot for total control. China versus India gives us the most illuminating case study. Some 40 years ago, China curbed out of control population growth to avoid socioeconomic collapse. Today, China has lifted 800+ million people out of crushing poverty after a century and half of western invasions, wars, and destruction. It's people enjoy safe streets, full stomachs, clean drinking water, education, a growing economy, etc. Of course nothing is perfect and China has many problems to solve but this achievement is simply unprecedented in human history. In contrast, India allowed out of control population growth and it is currently experiencing a socioeconomic crisis. Food and water shortages. Infrastructure is woefully underdeveloped. Much of the country lacks sanitation such proper toilets leading to the spread of disease. The results speak for themselves.

This movie sparked all my emotions. To hear people talk about humans like they were just trash to be discarded, was very soul sucking. This is an invaluable tool for teens to get a glimpse of Communism. I was very disappointed that after this journey, Nanfu still doesn't uphold the sanctity of human life. She has moved on to America and has also allowed herself to be brainwashed with "my body, my choice". After all she has discovered, I really thought she would believe in the sacredness of all human life.