One Child Nation, directed by Nanfu Wang and Zhang Jia-Ling, delves into the harrowing issue of incalculable complexity, that is, the One-child policy of China. Its complexity arises from a harsh and gruesome aspect of national history that killed and restricted lives, but argued by others to be “necessary” for the nation to prosper. It clashed with China’s deeply held cultural preferences for male heirs and produced severe impacts on China’s socio-political environment. “Without male offspring, the family would go extinct”, a few elderly males agree upon as they chat together. The trauma has become inter-generational and its impacts pervade all aspects of the citizen’s lives. The brutally honest and personal documentary traces the history of the policy and investigates the policy’s impacts on people as it coincides with Wang’s own life, having been born 6 years after its introduction.
Nanfu Wang recounts, “Since before I could speak, I was surrounded by messages praising the policy”, and that her own experience of motherhood brought about the urge to learn about the policy, “Becoming a mother felt like giving birth to my memories”.
This is daring, as Wang’s family, who are featured in the documentary, still reside in China. Exemplified by writers like Ma Jian, and artists like Ai WeiWei, criticising or exposing China’s communist regime could subject individuals and their families to bans, violent abuse and threats from authorities.
Although everyone knows about the One-child policy, a population planning policy implemented by the Chinese Communist Party to offset overpopulation, little outside of China know about the extent and severity of its impact on the nation’s history and the lives of every individual citizen. Though controversial to the West, the Chinese often don’t criticise or question the national policy as rampant propaganda in the form of folk arts, entertainment, visual imagery and phrases have infiltrated their quotidian lives, become a part of the vernacular and have indoctrinated their citizens to have the same mentality, or have a passive acceptance for the circumstances of the time. Only in the beginning of 2016, was a new two-child policy enacted to address the growing ageing population and the gender imbalance issues of China’s contemporary situation.
The powerful imagery of the documentary is interspersed with interviews and archival footage from: the news, propaganda performances, old interviews, that must be seen by yourself on the big screen. The filmmakers provide a multitude of varying refreshing perspectives as they interview family members, village officials, women, human traffickers, artists, village midwives and doctors.
“But policy is policy, what could we do?”
“For 20 years, we travelled around to do sterilisations and abortions.”
“I was the one who killed. I killed those babies, didn’t I? The state gave the order but I carried it out.”
“This indoctrination destroys a person’s humanity, individuality, and conscience.”
“This Policy not only took the lives of newborn babies, it also ruined the lives of many adults”
Powerful and revealing; tender and harsh; truthful but not accusatory or sensationalistic. The narrative and the construction of this documentary is effortless but touching. So, I wish to not explain it, but implore all to watch it. I implore to people who don’t know much about the policy to watch it, I implore those who are interested in China’s history to watch it and I implore those who know about the policy to still watch it as it will still be moving and impactful. Though the political climate is changing, the policy has been a large part of China’s contemporary sociocultural history and its impacts will continue to pervade the nation as people attempt to heal from the trauma that this policy has incurred on various lives. It is necessary to reconcile with history. The discourse surrounding the policy and its reverberations on people’s lives will continue, as will the portrait that this documentary and the filmmakers’ voices paint.
Bonnie
One Child Nation
Sydney Film Festival