One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical

Experiment by Mei Fong

 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 5, 2016)
 Language: English
 ISBN-10: 054427539X
 ISBN-13: 978-0544275393

About the Book

What happens when you have a population of bachelors larger than all California? Will a nation of
singleton children, “Little Emperors,” be overburdened by expectations or spoilt beyond comprehension?
How will China’s nation of retirees—larger than all Europe—sustain themselves in old age with far fewer
workers?

When Communist Party leaders adopted the one-child policy in 1980, they hoped curbing birth-rates
would help lift China’s poorest and increase the country’s 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 policy’s 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.

Weaving in Fong’s reflections on striving to become a mother herself, One Child offers a nuanced and
candid report from the extremes of family planning.
About The Author

Mei Fong is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist with more than a decade of re- porting in Asia, most
recently as China correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Her work has also won awards from
Amnesty International, New York’s Society of Professional Journalists, and the Society of Publishers in
Asia. Featured as a China commentator on NPR, CBS, CNN, PBS, and elsewhere, Fong is currently a
research fellow at think-tank New America. Recently, she took the unusual step of issuing her book in
Chinese for free, as a way to circumvent rising censorship in China.

Book Reviews

"A searing, important, and eminently readable exploration of China's one-child policy."
— NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

“The policy itself remains a monument to official callousness, and Fong’s book pays moving testimony to
the suffering and forbearance of its victims.”
— NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Not to be missed ... [Fong] combines tough, broad economic analysis with individual stories."
— ECONOMIST / 1843

“A timely, important work that takes stock of the one-child policy’s damage…ONE CHILD is, like the
policy’s abolition, long overdue, and Ms. Fong was the perfect person to write it.”
— WALL STREET JOURNAL

“Fong’s fine book is a moving and at times harrowing account of the significance of decisions taken by a
small coterie of men with too much faith in science and ideology, and too little in humanity.”
— GUARDIAN

“Fong writes eloquently and with an authority that reflects her knowledge of many cultures ... A deeply
moving account of a policy that looks set to haunt China (and the world) for decades.”
— INDEPENDENT (UK)

“With impeccable timing, [Fong's] new book offers a superb overview... Fong writes in an easy, accessible
style, and in 200 pages takes us behind the scenes of the Sichuan earthquake, the Olympic stadium in
Beijing, the dancing grannies, the migrant workers, the orphanages, the transnational adoption of Chinese
baby girls, birth tourism, and surrogacy. She fills in the background to these familiar subjects with
impressive research and interviews, conducted over many years.”
— LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What makes this book distinctive?

2. This book is made up of stories of many people feeling the effects of the one-child policy,
from parents made childless by the death of their only child, to bachelor villages, to people
who courageously opposed the policy, and the rocket scientists who drew it up.
Was there a specific story that had left an impression, good or bad? Share the story and its
effect.

3. Did your earlier opinions about the one-child policy change after reading this book?
Where there aspects of the policy that you were not aware of, prior to reading the book?

4. After reading the book, has your interest been piqued about the subject matter?
If so, would you consider reading more on the topic in the future?

4. Did the author cover both sides of the topic fairly and thoroughly or did the book appear to
be biased, solely written to promote the author's own agenda?

5. Do you think there were any universal themes or topics highlighted in the book that would
be of interest to people not in China? If so, what were they?

6. The author weaves in her own personal story as a way to make the book more accessible to
Western readers. Did this approach work?

7. Some of the issues the writer tackles-- the aging issue, or the question of eugenics and
genetic enhancements—are speculative and forward looking.
Do you think her approach and conclusions are valid?
Are there other issues that you feel were not adequately covered in the book?

8. What is your one takeaway from reading the book?

(Questions provided by the Author and issued by Monterey County Free Libraries of California.
Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)