Invisible Lives: A Legacy Of China's Strict Family Planning Rules | TIME
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- This short documentary focuses on the lives of children who were born outside of China's strict family planning rules, including 13 million such people in China today.
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Invisible Lives: A Legacy Of China's Strict Family Planning Rules | TIME
/ timemagazine
There is no excuse for leaving 13 million people in ANY country unaccounted for. Seriously those 13 million "illegal children" are already turning into 13 million jobless, homeless adults with no prospects to help themselves or society. Forget the mistakes of the former policy, that was then this is now. Give them their registrations, get them into school and society and jobs eventually.
It's amazing you can be born in your own country and STILL be considered illegal. Insane how people aren't people when the governments says so.
Exactly what I was thinking. It will never matter where anyone is from because there will always be institutions inflicting arbitrary rules deciding someone's personhood.
They are in much the same situation, and they are all innocent victims of seriously asshole politicians, through no fault of their own. The real difference is, dreamers were used by their parents for the parents' own goals (noble tho those goals might be), to move into another country. These children in china were born in china to chinese citizens who's families have been legal citizens since the 7th century, and most were even born properly WELL within the bonds of legal matrimony. By EVERY measure, they would absolutely be recognized as legitimate natural born citizens.
Normally I would agree with you but I've been in on the planning sessions. Using the children is not only a deliberate tactic employed to stay in the country, it is the preferred strategy of choice. They figure and play on american sympathy for children, knowing that a "nice" looking family with two or 3 cute kids in school learning to be americans, is a pretty good way to ensure that "La Migra" will deport someone else instead of them, even if the older children are illegal immigrants themselves. We all believe in 'the american dream". Once the cute kid is in school, its just a matter of a pregnancy to create an anchor baby. Sad to say, but some families really do sit there checking calendars planning when to get who pregnant, so that they can stay here. It's a deliberate tactical strategy.
Christine Cameron not only happening in america also Europe
This is really sad. I know that a lot of Chinese parents moved to New Zealand where I live so that they can have two or three children. I was a school teacher and I would often meet Chinese families and they were always the nicest, most respectful and dedicated to their children.
I live in Canada.I have been living in Canada for 17 years but I was born in a China. My brother was born in Canada in 2009 and many of my childhood friends also have younger siblings . My heart breaks for these children . Look, I watch Call the Midwife and many of the babies on that show were conceived under the worst possible circumstances . I’m talking about babies conceived under an abusive relationship , which I am almost certain that they were concieved from rape . I’m talking about pregnant prostitutes and children born from cheating spouses . Guess what, all these women were given exceptional care by the midwives without judgement . All the babies born from the ill fated situations ..let me tell you they are no different than the babies born to a loving couple with stable incomes . They came out pink cheeked, ruby red lips , and screaming with a healthy set of lungs just like any other baby . All babies are beautiful. We all start life in the same way, why should we be treated differently from each other later in life, right?
Also, Canada and NZ has free healthcare, so it costs the Chinese parents nothing to have a second child in a developed country hospital . Moms who have given birth both in China and in western countries will always rave about the exceptional care they received in a developed world hospital .
and growing up in Canada is a great privilege for the kids. I grew up in Toronto and my childhood was one that I will never forget. I always feel that I am luckier than some of my my co -workers who visited Toronto last year in June. I was jealous for them being able to go ( and leaving me to cover their shifts for two weeks ) but then ai thought ..Sure, they visited some attractions, but they never got the chance to grow up in Toronto or another Canadian city . They came to Canada as teens or adults . I got to grow up in Toronto and I feel like the luckiest person alive to spend 5 years of my childhood there .The girl in the video couldn’t even borrow books from libraries . In Canada I was a library member since I was seven, library memberships are always free in Canada .I really owe it to the library’s annual summer reading club for the development of my passion for reading . Without such passion for reading and also writing , I wouldn’t be able to write as well as I do now . And let’s not forget the free recreational activities that are funded by the provincial government in Toronto . We were living on low income in Toronto and these free activities like swimming and skating means a lot to my family .
So the kids who grew up in a developed country like Canada or New Zealand, please know that you really have won the lottery just by having the chance to grow up in the caring city where you live in. You live in city that cares for its children and want them to have a bright future regardless of their family’s circumstances . I only wish China would do the same .
Helena Huang you have an amazing understanding of the differences between growing up in China compared to Canada. You show a lot of empathy. I too was blessed with an amazing upbringing with incredible parents who loved and encouraged me and they still do. I've moved back in with them as I'm terminally ill and it's not safe for me to live alone anymore. Even though I was diagnosed with a cruel disease at the age of 12 I wouldn't change a single thing. Even though I'm very sick I look at it as an opportunity to help others get through illnesses and I know that there are people worse off than me. At least I'm spending the rest of the time I have left in a nice home, plenty of food and drink and only my health to focus on. I get frustrated with people who moan about their lot in life, I just wish they would see how lucky they are.
Amy, I wish you all the best.
lilo palmtree thank you, you are very kind.
Amy Rivers Ikr, they are so nice. My friend was born in China, and when he was about 5 he and his family moved to Brazil so the parents could have a second child. They ended up having 5 kids after him.
"So I'm sueing the police for not registering me" Good for her! I hope she is successful.
its tragic that common citizens suing government is always deemed as not successful
SepherStar "Suing" not sueing
The unregistered girl should be BLAMING HER OWN DAMN PARENTS..They were FuLLY AWARE of the LAWS when they decided TO have unprotected sex and bring this child into that world in China. They knew she would never be registered and they made tbat choice. Her parents were stupid and she needs to put the blame on them. 100% the law sucked but her parents were aware. They should of taken CARE OF ALL THAT SHIT when she was born. Now the daughter she has to figure it all out and MISS OUT ON LIFE. The PARENTS ARE HORRIBLE PEOPLE IN MY EYES..... Pony up the $$$$ for your daughter now.....
And the fact the husband blamed his wife for not having more children, seriously wtf? Men like that should be sterilized.
+SepherStar Then ALL prisoners should be freed from prison and sue the police who kidnapped them and sue the government for their time spent in prison.
the thing with china is that they tend to do everything too extremely. when they needed people, they encouraged families to have as many children as they can without a regard to whether the family could afford to take care of all of them, and when they realized too many people were born, they restricted the parents form having only one child. they should've placed a limit of 2 or 3 in the first place.
They're not good with the natural laws or probability.
All empathy have been lost since the rule of the Communist Party.
I am from China and I was born in 1989. Most friends of mine are the only child in family. However there are a few friends have sisters and brothers, they are born "illegally" according to this video. But I swear to God, all these "illegally" kids I know are registered, went to school and got a job, they have a normal life just like me.... So, I don't know, if my whole real life experience is an illusion or this video is making up things or they are only reporting extreme cases.
It's still their policy whether or not it's enforced Xin Li. They don't try and hide their policy. After two children, asking people to go get sterilized isn't inhumane, forcing them to get sterilized, allowing uneducated children, ect. Is inhumane. If sterilization services were free, a lot more people would opt after a kid or two in many countries.
MrBubblygoodness - Don't forget the gender ratio imbalance. The one child policy saw millions of baby girls aborted, so that a family could have a boy child.
Now, a substantial number of Chinese males will never have an opportunity to marry, because there are too few girls. For this, I laugh at them for discriminating. Now they pay a price and girls can choose the best men. Hahaha.
Xin Li - Maybe it has to do with region or class. I met a Chinese girl from a family of 4. Her family had to pay fines and special taxes to the state for having more children. So, they must have afforded it. They were not worried.
My cousin was unregistered -- she paid the fine, got the paper, and got registered just fine. Those 13M people actually *can* register. The problem is that the local police station can't register them unless they get permission from the family planning department. And the family planning department can't issue them a paper unless they pay their fine. So at the low level people's hands are completely tied. You see these kind of crap happen in China *all the time*. You have to get papers signed by many authorities to accomplish a single thing and if even a single authority can't/won't sign your paper then you're screwed. What really needs to happen is for this to be planned centrally with coherent instructions given to all related departments. But we're talking about 13M out of 1.4B people so I doubt the Chinese government will take notice...
I guess they thought the extreme human rights violations are necessary to keep people following the one child policy , but they are clearly overkill .Registration is everyone's basic right . you can withhold financial benefits . And but now since they have dropped one child policy there is no point to keep these unregistered persons suffering .
"Human rights" is more of a modern concept. In ancient times throughout the world, there were no "human rights" as we think it today. Hence we would perceive the ancient peoples as "barbaric" or "uncivilized". Miguel de Cervantes' maternal grandfather sold Miguel's mother to Miguel's father as a bride. Selling a child away is never an easy task; you may never see your kid again. But in a time without social services for the poor, what can you do? You have to sell the child(ren) to feed yourself. Domestic violence wasn't an issue in the past, because women essentially became the property of their husbands and fathers.
To be fair, the US government has also made extreme human rights violations. It has denied the rights of African Americans, women, other racial/ethnic minorities, and sexual minorities; and they are still issues to this day. It's not a perfect government; no government is. But it is improving day by day. That's the heart of human nature. Humans grow. The same goes for the Chinese government.
I am from China and I was born in 1989. Most friends of mine are the only child in family. However there are a few friends have sisters and brothers, they are born "illegally" according to this video. But I swear to God, all these "illegally" kids I know are registered, went to school and got a job, they have a normal life just like me.... So, I don't know, if my whole real life experience is an illusion or this video is making up things or they are only reporting extreme cases.
Xin Li Not too sure, but I think different places have different take on the law. (Perhaps because of the local government) Plus she did say something that the family planning and the police thing shouldn't intertwine. So it is possible its the local police who gives her all the problems. Not the government.
But who knows. Its best to be sceptical about anything even if its apparently obvious.
Yes, as a normal person, the best I can provide is my real personal experience. I am not a media that is able to "collect" data and sound official.
But I can tell you, I am not a rich person, or a person has any background. My friends are even poorer than me. Most of them just normal middle class, and some of them are farmers. And I had a lot such friends, not 5, not 10, but around hundreds (a lot of my classmates have siblings). And all of them look fine and happy. And from some close friends, what they told me the fine is around 2k (There's no reason for them to lie about this), and their family income is around 10k per month.
So now you know why I doubt the truth of this video. I personally think my doubt makes sense. I understand that for you, obvious TIME is more reliable than me, I am no one compare to famous media channels, and on top of that most people already have a very negative view of Chinese government. But maybe you can also understand that, for a person who spent more than 22 years in China, who have seen things with her own eyes, doesn't believe or even a bit pissed off by this video.
Ok, so to answer your question. Here is what I have heard and known. If you work for government (Like my mom works for a public school, and if you work for a country owned bank), then yes, if you have more kids, you lose your job and also you have to pay the fine. So that's why most people can't have more than 1 kid because they don't want to be fired from the government-owned company. At that time of China, getting a job from those companies basically means you are set for your whole life, you don't need to work very hard or worry about competitions, so people want to work for government owned places. (It's not like that anymore, you can get fired if you can't do your job, but still some people like to work for government owned companies even nowadays)
But, if you are a business man, or you are a farmer, or you work for private companies, basically you don't work for a government owned company. Then you only need to pay the fine, which is not much. And that's why a lot people have 2 or 3 kids even though the strict One Child Policy is there.
And no, my friends are not special, I have like more than 100 such classmates, you are telling me they are special ?? Sorry that I don't buy it, and I know they are not special, because I know them personally, I still have contact with them, I can confirm with them now, maybe in front of you if you want. LOL
If I had the money I'd pay for that guy to have a fellowship at the Law Library of Congress. I agree that history needs to be reported, and having a law professor with personal experience do it sounds perfect.
I don't know very much about China's one child policy, other than what I've learned from this video, but I just have one thing to say: don't punish the son for the sins of his father. Don't punish them for something they had no control over.
Aurora Wolfe you should do as much research on this as you can. They have been forcing women to abort babies. There is a video on UA-cam of a woman who was seven months pregnant and the government kidnapped her and aborted her baby and laid her dead baby next to her on her hospital bed. It's disgusting and despicable. Families have been abandoning babies and killing babies so that they don't get punished it's been a horrible genocide going on for way too long and I can't believe my country the United States of America has been doing business with such a despicable country.
Well. Biblically speaking..... (cough cough lol) we all pay for the sins of our fathers. 3 and 4 generations. Cool, right?
@Nicholas Rickhoff exactly. Consistency is always key. Except when it isn't.
@@texasgina I am Chinese, and I would like to say that the family planning policy implemented by the Chinese government in the past was actually killing people, killing tens of millions of children.
@@texasgina In the past, officials forced people to have abortions, and many people were looted by the government for giving birth to many children, and they were even forced to undergo surgery. But now, as China's fertility rate has dropped, officials have begun to find ways to hide the real population and force people to have more children
So she can go rob a bank and if she's caught, she can get away with it. She can say I'm nobody!
We do need to slow population growth, but I think proper schooling and education is the way, and access to health care and family planning options
Yes that is the best way to go about it, but at the time the policy was implemented, population growth in China was out of control. The country industrialized to the point it curbed infant/child death rates however people still held old traditional beliefs (needing many children for farm/ need a boy to pass on name). Schooling and education takes time, and they didn't have a whole generation's worth of it. It was this policy, or suffer from economic stagnation, and the government choose the prior.
@@iampetz I do understand what you are saying, I really do. But I personally believe that there is absolutely never an excuse to kill innocent children. I mean they weren't just fineing families, or destroying their homes, or tying a woman's tubes after their first child to prevent further pregnancies or something, they were physically dragging full term pregnant women to clinics to force abortions on them. They litteraly killed their children infront of them. Or sometimes babies would be left in the market in hopes that someone would take them, but that was very rare. Most of the babies just died. People have discribed seeing 2-3 babies left out at a time, with person after person just walking by, so desensitized that they didn't even blink and eye. Then eventually when the child had been dead long enough to be covered in maggots and stinking they would put it in a trash bag and throw them in garbage landfills! Fucking garbage landfills! I would kill myself and my husband to insure the life of my child before I would ever allow this to happen to my baby. The state of the world we live in is a direct result of the people who came before us and of ourselves, if anyone should have to sacrifice to fix this shit hole we have built for ourselves, it should be those that created the mess in the first place, not innocent human beings.
I'm a bit torn. On one hand I look at the lives of these unregistered children and feel compassion. I couldn't imagine a life of merely existing. On the other hand, I feel these parents were completely selfish. Why would you have a second child KNOWING what was in store for them? I just don't get it.
Go gamble for a son...so yes totally selfish scumbag parents.
girl interrupted selfish parents in African countries bring children to the world to watch them die. And in the US look at what bastards do.
It’s not as easy as them being selfish, there are high infant mortality rates in the country side where labor is very hard and is tiring causing health issues for parents at an early part of their lives, even then there’s the uncertainty of your child being able to be a big enough hand around your work place to make enough money to feed the family. Trust me I wish they didn’t have to send a child into such harsh conditions but it’s necessary evil I’m afraid.
@deathtrooper666 I agree with you for the most part but we have to keep in mind that for generations before the one child policy the government basically brainwashed citizens to have as many children as possible so that they could work the farms, contribute to society, take care of elders, etc... it was very hard to change that mindset. Also alot of poor communities had no knowledge of safe sex practices. No condoms or birth control or education on the matter. So yes I think some parents were being selfish and stupid but we can't say they ALL were.
My friend was born during this time but was adopted by a couple and they took her back to ameeica with them... her mother is French and her father is Italian... she speaks both English and French and a bitnof Italian... she was found in a box on the doorstep of the orphanage... so basically her parents abandoned her... maybe they couldn't afford her... she'll never know... but she's happy... at that's all that matters...
I'm just voicing an opinion here, I don't mean to shame anyone, but I just don't understand why people want to have so many children, when they know it is either illegal or they cannot afford them. When I was 10, I had a friend in school that had 4 siblings, she had the biggest family in our class, and also the poorest. Her parents couldn't afford books, trips and the uniform, yet 2 years later, they had another baby.
There is so many children, all over the world, needing families and love, why do people still give in into their animal instinct of wanting to reproduce?!
andromeda yes finally! Someone gets it
Me too i dont get it if u want a big family u can adopt as many as u are able to provide for without worsening overpopulation
Just as people shouldn't be shamed for not having kids they shouldn't be shamed for wanting kids. Its not an animal instinct. Sometimes its something you want. I come from a big family. And I think which sibling would I have to go without. China is now in crisis because there are more men then woman.They can't afford to take care of their growing older population. Its your choice not the government's.
andromeda People have an inherent right to control their reproduction.
Exactly! Don't have kids if you can't provide for them. Incredibly selfish to have a load of kids when you know you can't afford it? You're causing your child a lot of pain, because they'll probably end up in foster homes or orphanages and wonder why their parents abandoned them. Why the hell would you want kids if you have no money or know you won't have any money? You're ruining your kid's life if you're homeless and unable to give them an education. Sorry for this long ass paragraph but I just needed to rant lol, no offence to anyone.
I have a younger brother and my parents paid a fine for it. He is registered. I think if parents decide to have another baby they should plan for it. In addition, the fine is calculated by family income
Hi Jayne, speaking as a Chinese, I want to say this, even though many people will get mad at me, but honestly, I am thankful for one child policy. I know there are a lot negative social problems from this, but it's not all bad. First of all, it dramatically improved women's social status in China, nowadays in cities, women and wen are almost equal. Second, people have more energy and time to actually educate their kids, unlike earlier, parents don't get time since they have 5 or 6 kids. Third, It DOES help with the population, which is a big problem in China.
As of internet censorship, most Chinese people don't care, because we don't speak English in China, and there are a lot Chinese softwares for us to use. we won't be using Facebook or Twitter or UA-cam even if we are allowed, I have been living in US for 6 years now, most of my Chinese friends here in US don't even have a FB account.
About lack of freedom of speech, yes, it's true with journalist or reporters, it's true if you want to gather an army to overthrow the government, but it's not true for normal people. I have heard numerous people speaking of how much they dislike the government or a specific policy, even my high school teacher has expressed negative feelings towards communist party. Nothing bad has happened to them !! So lack of freedom of speech doesn't actually apply to most Chinese people..
It's great that you were born. However I don't feel sorry for people who can't be born, I can't see what to feel bad about that .
I only feel bad for people who were born but suffer because their parents don't have enough energy or money to give them the life they deserve.
good for you your parents have money. funny thing is they are either government officials or connected to officials, which really doesn't give you any right to talk.
The thing is most people have the money for fine, the fine is not huge at all. From what I heard, my friend had to pay 2k, and their family income is around 10k per month.
It really doens't matter what this video says the fine is and why they say it is huge (maybe it's some extreme case or they're making up things), I only believe my eyes and my own friends the most.
You might doubt me saying that if fine is little, then why people only have one kid. SO the truth is, you do lose your job if you work for government (like teachers for public school, or working for a government owned bank). That's why most people (including my mom) won't have more kids. But if you are a farmer or business man or working for a private company, I know plenty of them have 2 or 3 kids, and the fine is nothing for them. Actually if a couple can't pay fine, I think it's better for them not to have kids, the money required to raise a kid is much much much more than the fine....
Xin Li I agree with you. I was an only child and I was perfectly happy. My parents were also completely content with having only one and because I was the only child, they were able to afford everything I needed growing up. Maybe the government's methods are unusual but population is a major issue. Not just in China, but in many parts of the world. People that have an issue with this, always conveniently leave out the fact that our consumerism is draining the world resources dry and something needs to be done to curb that. Yes it must be nice to have siblings but when having those siblings come at the cost creating issues of water shortages and starvation in the future, it's not worth the trade off.
Food and water doesn't just magically appear in your taps and plates, but has to be supplied, and there's only so much to go around. If you look at what is happening in Cape Town (which is a bustling metropolis) at the moment, the population grew quite quickly there and even though people were fully aware that there was a drought in the region for years, they continued to consume at the same rapid pace. They are now down to 5l of water every day and their predicted day zero is some time in 2019 when the taps will completely run dry, and then people are now outraged at the municipality as if the people themselves had nothing to do with it.
As for the unregistered people, I agree that something will need to be done there and quickly. This is going to hurt China later if they don't something about it.
now they have imposed this two child policy, and nobody in the younger generation responds to them. In fact a lot of ppl who were raised as the only child under one child policy doesn’t even want any children at all....
As an only child, I can confirm that being raised that way makes me ambivalent to having children. It's a tough way to grow up.
It might sound unnatural to people outside China, but it is just the way it was, and people are really used to it.
Can't understand why these choose to have second kids tho...it is fine to do it in rural area because household registration and education are not necessary for survival there..... but to do it in the city while you have no money.....you are just promising your child a life of suffering.
I heard they have the problem that the population in the rural area grows, while the more educated population with higher jobs in city areas decreases. And that creates a problem.
I am speaking this as a person who lived in Shanghai for years, and i will be talking from the perspective of the first family. As you have seen from the video, living in the city as a second child in China was a very different experience from being one in the western world. It may not have come across to you clearly....but not having a household registration and ID means you cannot go to school, can not go to a hospital, can not have a proper job, can not travel to any where, you as a person do not exist in the society . Again this would not be a problem in rural area, with the support of family, a person can live and thrive without having to worry about these restrictions; however,the problem is these people are living in Shanghai, a highly economized city that is coming more heavily regulated each day.The support of family member would not be enough because of how incredibly expensive to live in Shanghai, just having one kid who cannot work is enough to drag the entire family below the poverty line. The situation will only worsen as the kids grow older- for self sustained small business that this family is practicing here, there are no insurance money for retirement. Once the parents grow old, it will be the bigger sister's responsibility to manage this 4 people home. Assuming she will have a salary of 6000~9000RMB, they will be living about the poverty line for the rest of their life, given the bigger sister is good enough to even find a job to give her this much money.
For all this talking, i just want to give you a clear image as to why simply having the love and affection is not enough to let anyone survive in the Chinese society when you don't have the approval of the government. Living in China, there is a definite sense of rules and regulations. While a westerner might see this lack of sense of freedom as oppression, we know that by following these rules, there are stability and following that, happiness. Not saying which one is better or worse, these are just the cultural differences between the countries.
I hope you can learn something from my input.
why should the basic human right of producing a future generation be limited in the first place?
Thank you was thinking the same thing. Odds are the parents were selfish. You know your second child won't have a "life" but because you want a second you are willing to have another to suit YOU.
Because in real world, there are not enough resources available to accomodate the needs of ever increasing population. The earth's condition is declining. I am not saying that a country should put inhumane regulations on it's population like China has done. Rather a country should educate the population on family planning and encourage the families to have fewer chidren by rewarding them in some ways instead of punishing the families who want more kids.
First child, is sooooo lucky.... 2nd child is extremely opposite. What the... people is doing law...so they also suffer from this law.
After thinking about it, I still need to say a few words. After all, I was also a child who had been affected by family planning. From small to large, I lived in other provinces because I had a younger brother. He was a plan outside. Parents said that because family planning did not allow for fines, it was tens of thousands and it was not just a matter of fine. Although some families still have fines and other restrictions and even labor changes, I am not sure that this will happen. Although I did not seem to think that there was any difference between us and other families until the time when I was about to graduate from elementary school, the head teacher asked to register for the school and also said something that devalued the black hukou. Unfortunately, because my younger brother is outside family planning, I still haven't got an account, which is the black account in the teacher's mouth. On the day of registering my account, only when I didn't tell the whole class to say that my account hadn't been done well...I was very sad, very annoyed, what did I do wrong, and why did such a system exist? What else? Did you die? Why do you have to follow closely? Later, when the system became loose, I finally managed to finish my account. At that time I was 14 years old.
The above is Google Translate, there may be some language errors
想了想我还是有必要说两句，毕竟我也是曾经因为计划生育影响过的一个孩子。从小到大我都是在外省生活，因为我有一个弟弟，他算是计划之外，父母说因为计划生育不允许要罚钱，要好几万而且这并不只是罚钱就能简单解决的，有的家庭虽然交了罚款还有有各种其他的限制甚至有的还有去劳改，我也并不确定真会这样。虽然这样我似乎也没有觉得我们与其他家庭有什么区别，直到我小学将要毕业时，班主任要求要户口本登记升学，还说了一些贬低黑户口的话。很不巧，因为弟弟是计划生育之外，我到那时还没有户口，也就是老师口中的黑户口。登记户口那天，只有我没交当着全班人的面说自己户口还没办好...我很伤心，很懊恼我究竟做错了什么，为什么会有这样的制度，生都生下来了，还要怎样？去死吗？为什么还要紧追不放？后来制度松了些才终于办好了户口，那时我已14岁了。
I'm sure that every time period in China has its own ups and downs. The reason why a dynasty falls is that something is wrong in the system. People generally don't want a whole different change in government, because that usually means catastrophe on a national level, as history shows. As long as the current Chinese government keeps most of the population happy, it will continue to live and govern the people.
the guy in the video just want a son. He is very selfish and old-minded. The only reason he is so opposing the law is because he didn’t have enough money to paid fines so that he can nonstop in getting his wife pregnant until he can has a son. The one-child policy is not all negative, especially in cities, when educated people understand the equality between boy and girl. The policy actually pushed forward on closing the gap between boys and girls. At that time one family can only has one child, so no matter girl or boy they invest all their love in their only child. (Not everyone, some still want boys no matter what). Back in time girls are not considered full family member because eventually they will married off and start their own family. They parents do not spent as much time and energy in raising the girl in compare to boys. ( especially on the issue of supporting of higher education). I am not saying the policy is perfect but it is not all negative. Peoples in the video are complain so much about their life is due to their or their parents’ violation of law, this is call punishment. Children’s are innocent, and it is their parents job to correct their wrongs.
This is how I see it as well.
Rong Chen Only thing is there may have been cases were the girl was just killed and instead of a murder case the parents would say 'My wife had a miscarriage'. Well even if they don't kill the girl after birth they may do it before she is even born by abortion. Yeah it does bring benefits but there are always loopholes.
Agree. There're always two sides for any story
Angelina Wang, exactly. Which has lead to a significant surplus of men that wont ever find a partner within the country, which in turn has even lead to abductions and trafficking of women from other countries, like Vietnam, to fulfill the demand. Theres a chilling documentary about it on UA-cam as well.
Angelina Wang we cant know the sex of baby before it was born in China
You create more problems with this type of law. People are more likely to "want" what they can't have, left to their own devices it would even out.
Humans are just selfish by nature. Having a child is a want not a need.
There was also a period of time in modern (post-1949 revolution) China when food was distributed on a per person basis.
Everyone in a family above a given age (age 7????) was allotted a portion of grain. Those under the age threshold received a half-portion.
People were starving on the rationed food, but kept having children because, although the portion was too little for a full-grown and working adult, it was unlikely that a child of the age 7-11 would eat their full portion; a part of their portion could be used to feed (and keep alive) the older members of the family.
And now government has lifted the law,
"What about us? Who isn't given identity, right, and paid fines??"
Indeed, live isn't fair.
While these stories are sad, I find it even more concerning that the parents of these children STILL can't see that there's a problem in having 5 children! Most countries that were at the level of development when China started this program STILL have NO public schools! They are STILL completely backward due to the perpetual poverty cycle of too many children & most of those children die from lack of food & medical care, with only a fraction living to be adults. China has broken this cycle & yes it's cruel & heartless how it's been done, but billions of children have been saved from a life of cruelty & early death by this.
I cannot fathom the first person interviewed saying there was never a need for this, while a later family says they want 5 children, another has 3 children & so on. Like it or not, there IS a need for population control in today's world!
Forced population control isn't needed when the country is developed and citizens are educated. People will practice birth control on their own.
"Billions" of children may have been saved. But they will suffer again when there isn't enough workforce to support the entire country.
R R, in general I completely agree with you, however when you look at the attitudes of the people in this video, it's clear that that is not the case here!
The problem I think in China was the propaganda & pressure to have lots of children, resulting in a population explosion & clearly that propaganda is still holding strong in many people. They needed to do the reverse to what they had previously done in creating the population explosion to get it back in check.
Just having the average 2-3 children that you see in developed countries wasn't enough to cut it here & it's not normal in developed countries for that education to reduce reproduction to only 1 child per family.
Do you REALLY think China & the world could cope & would be where they are today if their population was currently 2-3 BILLION? Because that's where "People will practice birth control on their own" would have seen it (IF they had managed to achieve the developmental level they are currently at, which of course wouldn't have happened with that many mouths to try to feed & if that didn't happen, then you see deaths of children & so MORE children being deliberatly conceived in order to ensure some make it to adulthood)
& lets not forget what a lot of this is really about - that they want boys!
Christ, finally someone who gets it. People don't realize that the population control helped China develop into what it is today (much less poverty, highly educated work force, class mobility). Without it, we'd probably see China in the same situation as India: Families stuck in poverty with huge families and lacking social infrastructure to support the masses. The government did a good job to turnover the 1child policy now, since the economy is much more stable. The guy at the beginning "We never needed the policy" should consider the men like 13:20.
actually China one child policy was a smart idea. China would have been even poorer than back then if the population had kept rising. But the way they handled the second children is very wrong. These kids didn’t asked for anything, they weren’t the one who didn’t follow the rule, their parents did. Only the parents should pay for this, not the children.
Not saying having many kids is wrong though, just that the law was meant for the greater good, so if you made a mistake (wether it’s intentional or not) your child shouldn’t having to pay for it in your stead.
The legacy of this will be an upside-down population demographic, just like in Japan. Not a good idea.
And yet, Japan has a vibrant economy and high standard of living.
People, like any commodity, become more valuable when there are fewer of them. Fewer people means an increase in wages for the general worker, which makes society more egalitarian. With fewer children, in many cases, girl children are as valued as boy children. This is similar to how more young women had an opportunity to attend college when family sizes in America dropped; the issue of "we need to save money to send your brothers to college" disappeared with fewer, or even no, brothers.
Plus, countries with an "upside-down" population demographic can select immigrants from among the best and the brightest of other countries. It is expensive for a country to birth, provide health care for, and educate a child until their first day as a tax-paying worker. These immigrants arrive ready to pay taxes on Day 1. Another country has grown, educated, and sorted them.
Jeanie Lawrence say that in 45 years when they have died out because the generation from 20 to 47 currently are not reproducing. There will be a gap once the generation between 45 to 87 dies off.
dapeaceswagger Ha! Japan is currently suffering as the younger generation are refusing to have children. Always include the psychological implications in every move. The men Japan are also refusing to have sex lol....they are classing themselves as non female/male. It's a tormenting mindset i can imagine, to be so traumatised that one runs away from love/sex/family and instead works to death!
Nothing good is happening in Japan...if you rule out financial wealth. Soon no one will ne there to get paid!
Just like there was a gap after the Black Death killed off a lot of people...and it allowed for distribution of wealth throughout Europe, class mobilization, and the expression of new ideas and new ways of doing things.
Just like there was a gap due to WWI (because of all the young soldiers and general population that had died? And we had the roaring 20s?
Just like there was a gap after WWII, and (after a reduction in population), the U.S. had prosperity across the board for two decades?
I would much rather that, as humans, we choose to limit our population voluntarily rather than to wait for war or disease.
having a baby is not just having a surgery..need to take lots of things in consideration..most of all, financial situation. love is not enough to raise a child. i want my child can learn whatever she wants and can go whereverr she wants.
Jayne Eyre I'm also a bit amazed, and saddened. You'd think that they'd try to educate themselves on empathy and social management, since they're breaking Chinese law by being on UA-cam in the first place. They should watch something useful and grow as humans.
The thing many people forget is that China is not America. They have completely different histories of industrialization, tradition and culture. At the time the policy was implemented, population growth in China was out of control. The country industrialized quickly to the point it curbed infant/child death rates, however people still held old traditional beliefs (needing many children for farm/ need a boy to pass on name). This was the best option for China at the time to continue it's economic advancement, and it benefited the rest of the 1 billion people. Now that the economy's stabilized, and people are more educated on the benefits of less children, the policy is less needed.
Good to know she got registered. Hope you can travel happily now sis.
Having children is a human right. It must be hard for those parents, but they do the right things by choosing their children over the government and their jobs. They have to sacrifice so much.
Hope now that the law changed they make it easy for those people to register.
10:39-11:04 is the best part
The policy isnt all bad. In fact it wouls actuay benefit many people. China's population is so large many people live in poverty. If less babies are born the population would stop increasing so much and the children would have better lives.
griffinbird3000 They didn't have to do anything this drastic. The birth rate was falling naturally as urbanization was taking place and with more education. All the human rights violations that have resulted is abominable. Plus, the male female sex ratio of people is off the charts. The numbers of men who will statistically stay in bachelorhood all their lives is astonishing. This skewed demography does not bode well for the country's future.
OMG China really needs to give dental care to kids, the girls teeth are in bad shape. In Canada, The government just included more money into the low income kids health program and they can now go see the dentist twice a year without payment and get hearing aids if needed, eye glasses, vision check and something else. It doesn’t matter if the parent is single, on Disibility or married if they are low income and the kids have a health card certain doctors can check.
Chinese kids have universal health care as long as they are legally born.
Julia Zhang born legally, punishing a child for something they had no control over is just insane
her teeth look fine to me?
canada's population grows 1 million in a year and it is mostly immigrants, adults from other countries. Chinese population growth is like 10 million in a year and it is not beacuse of immigration.
The little girl had extra teeth growing on her gums, one doesn’t have to be a dentist to see that. Her mom’s teeth were also cavity ridden . They both need some dental care .
China should forget the one-child policy ever happened, offer "amnesty" to these children and incorporate them into the workforce. It can only help their country and economy.
I mean... It kind of makes sense to have to pay a "fine" for an "unplanned" child to access public services. Public services through a person's life cost way more than the fine, so the fine is basically a discounted one-off payment for the services.
Ok.. this might be my privilege talking... but I honestly don't get it.. Why aren't these parents teach their children at home?? There are millions of people who are willingly home-schooling their kids, why can't these parents do anything? I don't get it how an English teacher who's supposed to be a well-educated person in China, cannot teach her own child and let the little girl having trouble "catching up". Why didn't the parents of the 23 yo teach her or have someone teach her skills so she can find a job without having the registration involved? Simple things like woodwork, arts, a foreign language by going to a language corner, bicycle repair, etc, etc. So many things can be done! Now her life is so wasted. Say she wins the lawsuit, and gets her registration, then what?? She still has missed her public education and she still has to face the rest of her life. I don't get it.
I thought the same thing. Like at the very least, she has access to her older sisters schoolbooks.
She's got a job, is why. Homeschooling is full time and not as easy as you think
Sure, homeschooling is a lot of work, but she has learned nothing? That's crazy. Even just watching tv you could learn at least something.
Older generations did not have the privilege of universal education. Families paid out of pocket to school their children. If you aren't educated yourself (let's say country bumpkin), how can you homeschool your child? Then of course there is the cost to finding a suitable tutor
I remember hearing that one of the reasons why Sesame Street was promoted was because it helped newcomer kids and poor urban kids (often one and the same) to learn literacy and numeracy skills that they otherwise wouldn't. I learned a lot from PBS, TLC and other educational programs as a kid.
What a world we live in.
Qiqi was so cute. I'm glad she was able to get registered so she can live a, hopefully, "normal" life.
I just hope that things can change for the rest of the unregistered in the country. None of them chose to be born, but they have to live with the choices made by their parents, as well as the people who run the country in which they live...
India's biggest problem is the ever increasing population for which education, jobs & Govt subsidies are never enough. Poverty & illiteracy are rampant. Whatever the means at least China has to a large extent been able to strengthen its economy & give better options to its people.
Don't have children if it's against the law, don't have children if you can't afford to take care of them. End of story
if your one child died, were you allowed to have another?
Yes, but if the couple is too old to have another child, they normally get compensation for living expenses from the governement
Hope Tikvah yes and if you remarry you can have another kid with new spouse
That was a pretty good rule. Look at what's happening in Africa. Ppl who had money always could afford more kids and just paid the fine
如果开放计划生育会怎么样。很多家庭不停生 生五六个六七个就为了生个儿子 对国家对社会都是一个巨大的负担。 有些人就是站着说话不腰疼。
Tina yan 到现在还是生儿子的偏好改不了，到了国外还在生儿子，女儿就堕胎，我晕
My brother was born in 2007, before the one child policy abolished. My parents were fined 20000 RMB for registration. My aunts have two kids, but they held rural household registration, so they were not fined.
My heart is sad
So, the big sister can't pay the fine and let her little sister get through in life? After all she is now a salaried worker!
JAchica11
Well, I think the mom should pay the fine. She was the one that decided to have another child- not the big sister.
The sister shouldn’t have to pay or even feel to because HER mother didn’t follow the one child policy.
If the second child wants to blame, she can blame her mother or the government.
You would think they would set up payment arrangements, wow
Smurfette Did It
If the sister wants to pay for it, she can. But I’m just saying, if the sister DOESNT want to pay for it, she shouldn’t feel like she needs to.
Back then, people of China were extremely poor.
My grandma told me how hard it was to find food everyday, people fought over a cup of rice.
And if it’s that hard to live, why should the big sister suffer so much because if something that wasn’t her choice?
In most African & a lot of Asian countries, the older child does NOT go to school, they work from 5 years old or so to pay for the food for their younger siblings, or stay home caring for their siblings, acting as the parent while the parent goes to work for 16 hours a day. Chinese people have only escaped this because of this policy. If the parents want to continue living in that style of thinking, it seems fair that the older child should at least pay for the younger child's fine really doesn't it
I hate to necropost but it's called helping your family. Hypothetically speaking, if my family was poor but provided food and shelter for me and helped put me through school to be able to live better. I shouldn't just leave them and be like, "Well, you should have followed the rules and worked harder." She should have invested in her sister if she was able. She'll be helping her parents. I wouldn't want my parents to feel burdened, even if they made mistake. Not you lot I guess.
So sad when kids end up in the struggle.
In my middle sadnes, this woman came up and ruined everything 6:23 😂😂😂😂😂😂 her expression tho 😂🙏🏻
This is really unreal. I'm glad I watched this. I knew this had been a thing in China and that it must affect people - but I never thought about what happens to the children that weren't supposed to be born. It really is insane to think they're not citizens of the country they were born in, and don't really HAVE a home country on paper until they're registered... So I'm glad some of them were at least able to do that. Either way though this is really sad and I felt extra sad when the neighbor said newscrews film the girl all the time but the shows are never shown in China. it's like she's trying to get her story out so badly but can't in the very country she's discussing.
While this video is heartbreaking, it only shows one side of the problem and it is very obviously painting a bias. None of the people interviewed here are concerned about the environmental consequences of human population growth, and the ex-University professor believed that it's just excuses the government made. I would've liked to see interviews on people who also voiced their opinions on the environmental consequences of China's explosive population, not this sob story that shows one perspective. The Chinese public should be more concerned for the future generations' stability instead of only thinking about their own desires to have children.
That little girl is soo cute omg
People only have a lot of children when they have insecurity issues, feelings of insignificance, and/or narcissistic tendencies (Look at India, rural Africa, and the Middle East). And usually extreme patriarchal values. Otherwise they would adopt. But of course not... they're not satisfied with themselves so they want to continue their own bloodline so more of their own genes can use up the finite resources around them.
How do you think it reached 1 billion that fast in the first place? A pair has six children each... and each kid has five children of his/her own. Maybe two or three die. This is still unsustainable exponential growth. And since we're untouched by natural selection, we must control everyone via artificial means.
Genetics is over-rated anyway. Your "bloodline" is getting passed on whether you have children or not. We all share the same genes within a pool. We can all trace our bloodline back to a single female ancestor because humanity almost went extinct from the start.
This is just one of a thousand major issues destroying our world. Stop being selfish assholes already!
Mothers are angels on earth.
On the southern side of China it's different. I have a brother. My cousin has 3 sisters and 5 brothers. I think that in the southern area it is more rural and the more kids the less work each person has to do.
One of the saddest things I remembered was the children who died in an earthquake in China and thar effectively ended a lot of family lines because they followed the one child rule and some had one parent sterilized.
I like this law. Those people knew what would happen to their children but they still did it.
The sad part for 2nd child who happened to have poor family is either, they are not existing, no state access to basic benefits & hardest part is they might not born... maybe some second child will be future great scientists or hero.
they need to do this in america too a lot of americans having kids and cant pay for them
Ameerah o too many Americans are anti choice and anti free contraception, it's a double edge sword.
I just think people should take precautions if they know they can't afford them. The government will pay for children so there's no reason not to. Its self entitlement that ruins most things.
kampiestarz its called socialism many a lot of people exploit that system especially the ones who have nothing to lose and don't care about there blood
The Chinese government needs to realize that, perhaps, population is not the problem: it is the fact that the systems needed to support such numbers need to be constantly innovated and improved. Food, clean water, education, transport, waste management... it must all be improved and made sustainable. Restricting the rights of people to have children - the 'easy' solution, in their eyes - only makes things worse on so many levels.
I think I know where the producer of "What happened to Monday" got the inspiration for the movie. This honestly breaks my heart to think that the government would disown their own people and deprive the lives of innocent kids from having a normal education and socialization.
The funny thing is when you, as an Asian American, go to China with a sibling and, even if you’re obviously much shorter/taller, they’ll ask if you’re twins :’D
Why Most of the Media are not say about how great and better than any country now ????
Maybe it's only my problem of someone speaking Mandarin, but this professor... He actually spoke in an extreme attitude against the policy and stated that: 'As soon as he can kill the policy, than he can get his job back.' which kind of bothered me how he sounds like all he wanted was to get his job back after went against the policy in the first place...
I'm a Chinese born in 1997, my parents followed the one-child policy (actually they didn't want the second child either.) There're many parents in my hometown didn't follow the policy and they got two children normally, I've never heard of them getting punished or lost their job, and they registered of course.But one of my roommate told me that the one-child policy is pretty strict in her hometown, she said she had a little brother. when her mother was bearing her little brother, she had to hide in their yard because there're bunch of peoples tried to check them if they had a second child or not due to the report of her collegue. Her mother finally lost her job because they found her had another child eventually. I was very surprised when she told me this story, because I've never heard of something like this before. Even we all live in China, the one-child policy is strict in some places and loose on other places. But it's quite sad to know that people going through this, it's not something they can control sometimes.
I wonder ... since they aren't registered, could some of us foreigners bring them out to our countries to make them 'legal' as adults? Can't do it in US this week due to the administration but hoping soon for intelligent, compassionate leadership very soon.
Got a Chinese friend who was sent away to the country to live with her grandparents when her mother got pregnant again. The parents raised her younger sister as the "only" child and only occasionally visited my friend. She left China and moved to Australia so she's better off now, but it still must be quite painful for her.
Such smart people. The girl is studying law! That's amazing!
Acessar bens básicos para uma vida, como educação, é direito universal!
That poor dad losing his job for having 2 kids ...what a nice man ...all those poor kids ..not existing
Meanwhile in Japan population level is declining. Hmm... 🤔
China's one child policy is fantastic. Just not the exclusion of 13million people. Besides that terrible exclusion, that one child policy is a great idea for any country in this day and age.
I hope being the year 2018 that this has changed for the Chinese people that have been left out if not I hope this video going viral on you tube and social media has an effect for change.
This reminds me of the film "what happened to monday?" 5/5🌟
E a opção de registrar a pessoa com outra nacionalidade?
The downfall of micromanaging
Never needed these policies!? The repercussions of human overpopulation are only starvation, squalor for humans, and extinction for animals and increased global warming.
They need to keep this in place and get India on an even more stringent plan.
I'm sorry. You need to take the time to read the facts. The one-child policy was implemented after the Cultural Revolution. Internationally, as women are educated, childbirth rates plummet. As the women increasingly were educated as China built up its education system, the births would have gone down without the policy. Even with the one child policy, the birthrate, because of exceptions for minorities and only children, was very close to the US rate which is close to a replacement rate.
In 2017 china no longer has this rule and actually encourage 2 children per household because of low population growth
I agree, W.
W they really could've made more options. I find the policies that were made seemed rather a lazy strategy.
They should've educated the nation more about planning a pregnancy and having children. Giving them necessary tools in prevention of a pregnancy like condoms, birth control pills and shots. If the government is so keen on making sure the ratio of population is within control, costs spend shouldn't be an issue since its for a long term thing.
Its just my opinion however. I don't know much about creating a control but that's just my suggestions at least.
Bruce, that theory is rather destroyed by those in the video having 3 children & wanting 5 children despite clearly being given the most intense education & birth control options possible! That's what I find most scary about this video, that those breaking the policy still can't understand the issues
so if an unregistered child broke a law, they wouldn't have a record or anything? Would it even be possible to make an arrest or charge them? genuine question, im curious
How can they do that too children, and being unable to register is disgusting beyond belief...
They should totally do this in America.
this really sucks :( i don't know if i ever could have been as strong as the parents depicted here.
One child policy used to have many exceptions, for example, people living in countryside can have two children if the first one is a girl and for ethnic minority people, they do not need to obey it. Basically, this policy was mainly for Han people especially urban Han people having a job in government or state-owned universities and schools etc.. Anyway, the policy was abandon in 2015. This year, no limitation on the number of child will probably come out.
this is such a human rights violation how is this not more piblicised? imagine being illegal because you were born
I don't know whether I feel bad for China or Chinese people. Sorry if this sounds bad i'm just saying what's on my mind but seriously I want hear the opinions of fortunate chinese people are you aware of this or you choose not to be aware of this?
Sad indeed. I also knew a woman this happened to. Her heart broke & mine with hers.
being unregistered means in fact that you are free. but also not having the benefits from the state
Personally I think a similar policy should be adopted worldwide. Having said that, there needs to be some serious adjustments in place so that girls are equal to boys. If you’re pregnant, abortions should not be allowed based on the child’s sex. This is very hypocritical of me, because I am also pro-choice. There are many instances when I think abortion is necessary: If a woman can’t afford a child, if the child is physically or mentally disabled, if the child is the product of rape and/or incest, if the woman was on birth control and got pregnant, these all are good reasons and abortion should be an option. The world population has exploded in the last 50-70 years, and something drastic needs to be done to slow it down.
China understood the problem of overpopulation but applied a solution that was impractical.
China and India are currently at around the three billion people mark combined.
I honestly think we need family planning everywhere.
I'm getting really sad my best friend is also a second child and she's also unregistered this just reminds me
Okay, but why have the second child if mum knew things were going to be this hard for both her and her second daughter? The parents brought this on herself and her kid.
My boss is Chinese and he seemed unfazed when people say its sad that Chinese people had this policy, but he thinks it was a good thing. So idk is this a westerners view?
This is cray!
9:57 I feel bad for the cat
I feel for the mother that had to give up her daughter for adoption, she wasn't perfect, cleft lip and other issues, if the mother was able to declare she was pregnant and was given prenatal care, her daughter would have had mostly had a better outcome, her daughter was adopted in USA and was given all medical care she needed and an outstanding loving caring parents here, but when I look into her eyes I know she was never abandon by her mother because her loving mother in China up gave her a chance by dropping her off at a small religious orphanage. And her mother allowed me and others to fulfill her with love caring and and chance to live cause if she was left in China she would have had no chance,China needs to stop ripping families apart,
I don't understand parents who had second children knowing what those children will have to face in their life
The poor second child. I think the parents are equally to blame for breaking the law because despite it being an unfair law, they should not have considered themselves to be above it while everyone else was following the law. The parents should be punished but they should give the second child the right to enjoy a good life.
Cant they ask for other country's citizenship in their nearest consultant or embassy??
The only thing I agree with is that people should only be aloud to have two kids ((but they should also be aloud to adopt))
This is so sad. To punish kids for their silly crazy laws.
The fine has been paid.. why do they keep denying her education and employment?
That man was being very unfair to his wife, she had very understandable reasons as to not want a third child yet he blamed her instead of the government. She's not the one that crafted and signed those laws, that was the government. She's just looking out for the children they already have why can't he see that? why can't he just be happy with the family that they already have?
this is so unbelievably sad in America they would be praised but they're they're punished I just watch something on the decline of the people of Japan these people should move there there's plenty of room over there it's the job situation but if these people have money I'd move my family there and go work in the city and then live out in the country it's crazy makes you cry I wish them the best God bless
The entire Orient is way overdue for valid governing. It's horrific the way those people are treated.