One Child : The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment

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Party leaders adopted the one-child policy in 1980, they hoped curbing birth-rates would help lift Chinas poorest and increase the countrys global stature. But at what cost? Now, as China closes the book on the policy after more than three decades, it faces a population grown too old and too male, with a vastly diminished supply of young workers. Mei Fong has spent years documenting the policys repercussions on every sector of Chinese society. In One Child, she explores its true human impact, traveling across China to meet the people who live with its consequences. Their stories reveal a dystopian reality: unauthorized second children ignored by the state, only-children supporting aging parents and grandparents on their own, villages teeming with ineligible bachelors, and an ungoverned adoption market stretching across the globe. Fong tackles questions that have major implications for Chinas future: whether its Little Emperor cohort will make for an entitled or risk-averse generation; how China will manage to support itself when one in every four people is over sixty-five years old; and above all, how much the one-child policy may end up hindering Chinas growth. Weaving in Fongs reflections on striving to become a mother herself, One Child offers a nuanced and candid report from the extremes of family planning.