{"id":19748,"date":"2020-02-05T09:38:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=19748"},"modified":"2023-08-25T11:26:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T18:26:05","slug":"the-one-child-policy-legacy-on-women-and-relationships-in-china","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/the-one-child-policy-legacy-on-women-and-relationships-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"The One-Child Policy Legacy on Women and Relationships in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kristal Sotamayor<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The one-child policy<\/strong> was introduced to China in 1979, written into the national constitution in 1982, and subsequently ended in 2015. Over the 36 years of the policy, entire generations have been marked by the effects of the state\u2019s control on women\u2019s reproductive rights. The films One Child Nation<\/i><\/a><\/span> and Leftover Women<\/i><\/a><\/span>\u00a0both reflect and examine the policy and its legacy from different perspectives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Directed by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang, <\/span>One Child Nation<\/span><\/i> looks back at the influence of the policy on Wang\u2019s experiences. The film pairs Wang\u2019s personal narration with an intimate cast of interviews including family members, formerly-convicted child traffickers, and artists. Juxtaposing <\/span>One Child Nation<\/span><\/i>\u2019s investigation into the past, <\/span>Leftover Women<\/span><\/i> follows three women\u2019s journeys as they navigate the repercussions of the policy. <\/span><\/p>\n

These women feel the immense pressure to marry and have children to rectify the legacy of the policy; a country with a higher ratio of men to women and a decreasing working-age population. From these two different angles, <\/span>One Child Nation<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Leftover Women <\/span><\/i>depict the experiences of women who navigate the effects of government-controlled reproduction.<\/span><\/p>\n

The one-child policy in China\u2019s <\/span>constitution<\/span> stated that \u201cboth husband and wife have the duty to practice family planning\u201d and that \u201cthe state promotes family planning so that population growth may fit the plans for economic and social development.\u201d This message was reinforced through propaganda and harsh punishments. As Wang explains in <\/span>One Child Nation<\/span><\/i>, \u201cI grew up seeing reminders of the policy everywhere\u2026 All of them blended into the background of life in China.\u201d In 2015, however, the Communist Party <\/span>ended the one-child policy<\/span><\/a>, allowing all married couples to have up to two children. The propaganda that once promoted one child were converted to messages endorsing two children. Wang\u2019s investigation into the policy\u2019s effect on her family began around the same time as the end of the policy when she herself became a mom.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Orphan

From One Child Nation<\/em>: Chinese adoption agencies ads of abandoned\/orphaned babies<\/p><\/div>\n

Cradling her newborn baby in her arms, Wang interviews her mom, Zaodi Wang; \u201cAt the time, ultrasound gender tests were not allowed. When I was about to give birth to your brother, your grandma put a bamboo basket in the living room and said, \u2018If it\u2019s another girl, we\u2019ll put her in the basket and leave her in the street.\u2019\u201d In <\/strong><\/span>Chinese culture<\/strong>, the bloodline is passed down through the male side.<\/strong> Women are thought to \u201cmarry out\u201d of their birth family to join that of their husband\u2019s family and care for the in-laws. That tradition makes male children more desirable for the longevity of the family name and to sustain the parents as they age.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elders in China<\/span> often reach retirement age without the necessary pension or funds for health care; making sons seem an investment toward retirement. This lead some families to abandon female babies in public spaces in the hopes that the baby would be adopted by another family. The abandoned babies would oftentimes die. Sometimes, the baby would be <\/span>trafficked<\/span> by orphanages and adopted to wealthy families abroad. In the US, nearly <\/span>3,000 Chinese children<\/span> were adopted in 2012. <\/span><\/p>\n

“It is a taboo topic for the Chinese government, which\u00a0acknowledges the problem exists but also does not make public statistics about the number of children kidnapped or the number of children sold into adoption. Because of the implications for the tens of thousands of families in the United States and elsewhere in the West who have adopted children from China the topic is often taboo outside of China’s borders, too.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a result of the one-child policy and the tradition of male heirs, there is currently a national gender imbalance. <\/span>In China, there are 30 million more men than women.<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Bride\n

Leftover Women<\/span><\/i> explains that \u201cthe government sees this as a threat to social stability and pressures women into early marriage. Women who are still single by their mid-twenties are labeled ‘<\/span>sheng nu<\/span><\/i>‘ (leftover).” The shift to a two-child family planning policy has added extra pressure on women to have children but has not led to an increase in birth rate. According to the <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/a>, in 2019, the number of babies decreased by 580,000 to 14.65 million; a nearly 4% decrease from the previous year.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Leftover Women<\/span><\/i> follows three young women’s journeys navigating the social expectation to marry — Qiu HauMei a 34-year-old lawyer, 28-year-old radio host Xu Min, and Gai Qi a 36-year-old Professor of film and television. HauMei, in particular, faces great pressure from her family to get married. In a heated conversation, her father states, \u201cThe law says people should get married in their ’20s. You\u2019re in your ’30s and still not married?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pressure to get married often leads women to visit matchmakers and attend matchmaking events in search of a husband. In <\/span>Leftover Women<\/span><\/i>, Xu Min seeks partners both in-person and online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n