One Child Nation explores China's One Child Policy, which made it illegal in most circumstances for couples to have more than one child.
One Child Nation
Synopsis
“‘We are fighting a population war’ was a common slogan used by the government during the One Child Policy. China started a war against population growth, but it became a real war against its own people.”
– Nanfu Wang, Co-director, One Child Nation
From Academy Award-nominated documentarian Nanfu Wang, Hooligan Sparrow (HRWFF, 2017) and Jialing Zhang, One Child Nation explores China's One Child Policy, which made it illegal in most circumstances for couples to have more than one child. Nanfu digs fearlessly into her own life, using her experience as a new mother and first-hand accounts of her family members, along with archival propaganda material and testimony from victims and law-enforcers alike, composing a revelatory record of China’s drastic approach to population-control. The severe law that led to forced sterilizations and abortions, abandoned newborns, and government abductions may have ended in 2015, but the process of dealing with the impact of its enforcement is only just beginning.
US Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2019
Grand Jury Award, Full Frame 2019
“One Child Nation is an intimate, honest and courageous look into an unprecedented social experiment by the Chinese Communist Party that has traumatized countless Chinese citizens and will shape generations to come.” - Yaqiu Wang, China Researcher, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch
July 6, 2022
Credits
Nanfu Wang
Director
Jialing Zhang
Director
