What it was like to grow up under China's one-child policy

China's one-child policy ended in 2015, but we're just beginning to understand what it was like to live under the program, says TED Fellow and documentary filmmaker Nanfu Wang. With footage from her film "One Child Nation," she shares untold stories that reveal the policy's complex consequences and expose the creeping power of propaganda.

My name is Nanfu.

In Chinese, "nan" means "man."

And "fu" means "pillar."

My family had hoped for a boy,

who would grow up
to be the pillar of the family.

And when I turned out to be a girl,

they named me Nanfu anyway.

(Laughter)

I was born in 1985,

six years before China announced
its one-child policy.

Right after I was born,

the local officials came
and ordered my mom to be sterilized.

My grandpa stood up to the officials,

because he wanted a grandson
to carry on the family name.

Eventually, my parents were allowed
to have a second child,

but they had to wait for five years

and pay a substantial fine.

Growing up, my brother and I

were surrounded by children
from one-child families.

I remember feeling a sense of shame

because I had a younger brother.

I felt like our family did something wrong
for having two children.

At the time, I didn't question

where this sense of shame
and guilt came from.

A year and a half ago,
I had my own first child.

It was the best thing
that ever happened in my life.

Becoming a mother

gave me a totally new perspective
on my own childhood,

and it brought back
my memories of early life in China.

For the past three decades,

everyone in my family had to apply
for a permission from the government

to have a child.

And I wondered

what it was like for people
who lived under the one-child policy.

So I decided to make
a documentary about it.

One of the people I interviewed

was the midwife who delivered
all of the babies born in my village,

including myself.

She was 84 years old
when I interviewed her.

I asked her,

"Do you remember how many babies
you delivered throughout your career?"

She didn't have a number for deliveries.

She said she had performed

60,000 forced abortions
and sterilizations.

Sometimes, she said,

a late-term fetus
would survive an abortion,

and she would kill the baby
after delivering it.

She remembered how her hands would tremble

as she did the work.

Her story shocked me.

When I set out to make the film,

I expected it would be a simple story
of perpetrators and victims.

People who carried out the policy

and people who are living
with the consequences.

But that wasn't what I saw.

As I was finishing
my interview with the midwife,

I noticed an area in her house

that was decorated
with elaborate homemade flags.

And each flag has a picture
of a baby on it.

These were flags
that were sent by families

whom she helped treat
their infertility problems.

She explained that she had had enough

of performing abortions
and sterilizations --

that the only work she did now
was to help families have babies.

She said she was full of guilt

for carrying out the one-child policy,

and she hoped that by helping
families have babies,

she could counteract
what she did in the past.

It became clear to me
she, too, was a victim of the policy.

Every voice was telling her

that what she did was right
and necessary for China's survival.

And she did what she thought
was right for her country.

I know how strong that message was.

It was everywhere
around myself when I grew up.

It was printed on matches,

playing cards,

textbooks, posters.

The propaganda praising
the one-child policy

was everywhere around us.

[Anyone who refuses to sterilize
will be arrested.]

And so were the threats
against disobeying it.

The message seeped into our minds

so much so that I grew up
feeling embarrassed

for having a younger brother.

With each person I filmed,

I saw how their minds and hearts
can be influenced by the propaganda,

and how their willingness
to make sacrifices for the greater good

can be twisted into something
very dark and tragic.

China is not the only place
where this happens.

There is no country on earth
where propaganda isn't present.

And in societies that are supposed to be
more open and free than China,

it can be even harder to recognize
what propaganda looks like.

It hides in plain sight as news reports,

TV commercials, political campaigning

and in our social media feeds.

It works to change our minds
without our knowledge.

Every society is vulnerable
to accepting propaganda as truth,

and no society where propaganda
replaces the truth

can be truly free.

Thank you.

(Applause)