THEIR STORIES

Xiao Ai Ying

Melissa Chan (2003) exemplifies not only the fear a pregnant women can face in China, but the punishment for becoming pregnant without permission in her news piece “China one child policy: women forced to abort second baby”. In this piece she interviews a woman by the name of Xiao Ai Ying and her husband Luo Yan Qua. Qua describes the events that took place the night his wife was forced to abort her child, “there were many men surrounding my wife. They held her arms behind her back, pushed her head against the door, kicked her stomach, and I don’t know if they were trying to give her a miscarriage”. Chan goes on to describe how the police took Yung, held her against her will, and killed her baby while leaving the fetus in her stomach. Xiao Ai Yung was eight months pregnant when she lost her child. This news piece was able to point out the atrocities happening in China, and the lack of aid for the victims. Just the fact that they are unable to speak out against this, and must hide their faces on film, shows the fear they have over the government.

Gan Yulan

Qiao Long of "The Epoch Times" (2009) reports that on March 23^rd of 2009 Gan Yulan was forced to leave with deputy Wang Xuebing and other corresponding officers. These officers had no proper authorization. She was then given a forced sterilization. It was stated that she had not been able to pay fines for having two children and not having the mandated sterilization required to her by law. She was not given a chance to have people present during the operation, nor was she given the decency of a doctor’s appointment prior. Though the government denied that any part of the operation was without her permission, many bystanders dispute that fact.

Abandoned Unnamed Baby Girl

"Asian Town" (2009) reports how the one child policy effects more than just the mothers sterilized and forced to abort their children. It actually also has an effect on the girl babies born who are often left abandoned to die. In Chinese culture it is customary to want a boy child, for they are the ones who support the parents when they are old. This baby girl, in the image above, was left to freeze to death. She was found dead by a woman passerby. She was never given the chance of a real life. Her picture shows one angle of the consequences of the “one child policy”.