Secrets And Siblings The Vanished Lives Of Chinas One Child Policy Mari Manninen by Mari Manninen, Mia Spangenberg (translation) 9781786997326, 9781786997333, 9781350222489, 1786997320, 1786997339, 1350222488 instant download after payment.

“Thirty-two years ago Mrs. Li & Mr. Wu from Zhejiang abandoned their second baby daughter at a marketplace. Mrs. Wang Maochen from Beijing has seven children, but six of them are illegal so they could not go to university, could not take a job, go to the doctor, or marry, or even buy a train ticket. Zhao Min from Guangzhou first learned about the concept of a sibling at university, in her town there were no sisters or brothers.

With the Chinese government now adapting to a two child policy, Secrets & Siblings outlines the scale of its tragic consequences, showing how Chinese family & society has been forever changed. In doing so it also challenges many of our misconceptions about family life in China, arguing that it is the state, rather than popular prejudice, that has hindered the adoption of girls within China.

At once brutal & beautifully hopeful, Secrets & Siblings asks what the state & its children will do now that they are becoming adults.” 

Mari Manninen is a journalist with the Finnish daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. She lived for four years in Beijing, where she reported on China’s rapidly changing society.

Chapter 1 excerpt:

IN THE BEGINNING

The 36-year experiment that transformed the life of every person in China.

Warning: You may get a lump in your throat while reading this book. I myself cried sometimes as I was writing the nine chapters that follow. In them, I tell the stories of ordinary Chinese people & how the one-child policy affected them. What does it feel like to abandon a daughter so you can have a son? How do you survive a forced late-term abortion without losing your mind? What is it like for a girl adopted abroad to return to China as an adult in search of her biological parents?