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Original poster

STOLEN CHILDREN channel4

60 replies

NotAnOtter · 08/10/2007 21:13

heart wrenching
puts the mccanns plight in perspective

OP posts:
dolally · 08/10/2007 23:02

anyone, not any!

breadgirl · 08/10/2007 23:03

My MIL was lucky. She had her 2nd son just before the one child policy was introduced. She told me a colleague of hers was not so lucky and had to be dragged screaming and forced to have her unborn baby aborted at 8 months

purpleduck · 08/10/2007 23:08

breadgirl -

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 08/10/2007 23:09

how terrible and horrific breadgirl

OP posts:
misty · 08/10/2007 23:22

If you log on to the C4 website you can follow the links to the program, and donate via paypal to a fund to help parents like Chen Jie's find them.

I found the program very moving

Frizombie · 08/10/2007 23:27

Only caught the last few minutes, but very I hope their policy gets reviewed for the better in 2010....

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 08/10/2007 23:40

thanks for that misty

OP posts:
Kewcumber · 09/10/2007 09:26

QuootieSpookypie - I absolutely agree with you. People talk about child abuse on the CV thread but its not really in the same league is it?

TwigorTreat · 09/10/2007 09:32

it's just so appalling - so very painful

I don't think it in any way reduces the McCanns pain to be honest though

nailpolish · 09/10/2007 09:34

i dont think threads like this get many replies because to be honest i dont think a lot of people watch it.
i am interested, but i just couldnt bring myself to watch it. dh wagged his finger at me and said he didnt want me sitting sobbing

TwigorTreat · 09/10/2007 09:37

dolally

China's one child policy means that you have to have permission to have a child, and you have to be married to get the permission to have a child. Subsequent children are fined which is ok for rich families but for poor families equates to a few year's salary.

Traditionally boys look after their parents in old age, girls leave their family on marriage to join boy's family.

Small boys are being kidnapped and sold to couples who want sons (I think they said 70,000 a year might be wrong). Their families have little or no help to find them .. we are talking about 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

Some families sell their children .. one father sold his youngest boy (6 year old) when his wife died, his 10 year old brother was talking about how much he missed his brother and how he wasn't sold because he was too old.

Teenage girls are being kidnapped and sold into marriage or the sex trade. China's one-child policy has resulted in a gender skew.

Late abortions are practiced / encouraged / enfored .. we're talking at 8 months here.

I think that about covers it

PetitFilou1 · 09/10/2007 09:39

It was awful. If anyone can think of anything that can be done to stop it (other than just posting money off somewhere) please tell me as I watched it and was at a loss. Why do the Chinese people put up with this from their Government?

TwigorTreat · 09/10/2007 09:39

this is more eloquent summary

breadgirl · 09/10/2007 09:59

the sad thing is, for many people it has become a way of life .. they know no different.
Like the child trafficker (who sold his own son) said 'i know it is wrong, i just don't know why'

Elizabetth · 09/10/2007 12:39

Couldn't watch it. What do people think is the story behind all these Chinese baby girls up for adoption? It's pretty obvious it would be horrendous.

Kewcumber · 09/10/2007 13:01

Elizabeth - choosing to give your child up for adoption (even if feeling forced into it by the govt policy) is a very different kettle of fish to having your child stolen. Most people are aware of the adoption of (mostly but not entirely) girls due to the one child policy, I would say very few people were previously aware of the child trafficking caused by the same policy.

I'm more in the know than most and I still learnt a lot by watching it. Becasue my DS is adopted I suppose I feel a greater responsibility to inform myself despite the harrowing nature of it. I had to turn over at times but pretty much stuck it out for most of the programme and glad I did.

jugglingact · 09/10/2007 13:02

I found it a fascinating but frightening programme. But like QSpookiepie says, other progs provoke more of a response. Couldn't sleep last night for thinking about it - really glad C4 put it on though and good to see real issues being highlighted rather than the usual rubbish on TV. My heart goes out to the mothers forced to give away their babies and those who've had them taken. wish there was more I could do......

princessmelBABY · 09/10/2007 13:15

I've taped it. We were going to watch it tonight. Not looking forward to it though

Elizabetth · 09/10/2007 13:35

"Elizabeth - choosing to give your child up for adoption (even if feeling forced into it by the govt policy) is a very different kettle of fish to having your child stolen."

It is? How would anybody here feel if they had to give away their children because their government told them to.

I don't see how people couldn't be aware that the upshot of the policy would be child trafficking. Increasing demand for babies in the West equals stolen babies in the East.

morningglory · 09/10/2007 13:51

"Only caught the last few minutes, but very I hope their policy gets reviewed for the better in 2010...."

HAH! I know something of the Chinese government, and my brother is engaged to a mainland Chinese girl. FAT CHANCE. It will be covered up, but not changed.

"Why do the Chinese people put up with this from their Government?"

Unfortunately, two things..first of all there is a culture of not disobeying authority, and second, if they tried, the government would quickly step in an stop any revolt (Tiennaman Square, anyone?). It is still a communist country.

Good program about an awful subject.

Kewcumber · 09/10/2007 13:53

the child trafficking wasn't about them being stolen to sell to the west! You obviously didn't watch the programme!!!!

We will have to agree to differ ion teh adoption thing. My opinion is that however awful, choosing to have your child adopted (for whatever reason) is not in the grand scale of awfulness as bad as having your child stolen and sold to CHINESE families to work for them and support them in their old age and to never know what happened to them.

Kewcumber · 09/10/2007 13:55

the got doesn;t tell you to give your child up. The govt tells you to have an abortion. If you hide and they don;t catch you, you either have the child and pay the enormous fine or abandon the child near an orphange.

I know that splitting hairs but we may as well be accurate.

breadgirl · 09/10/2007 16:32

i looked on channel 4's website and in the Stolen Children's section was a link to watch The Dying Room. I watched it but it was really disturbing .. it just got worse. If anyone can stomach it .. watch it.

Kewcumber · 09/10/2007 16:44

please note though, the dying rooms is a VERY old documentary and (partly as a result of the documentary) many institutions in China are significantly better and a high percentage of the children are now in foster care.

breadgirl · 09/10/2007 16:50

i did see that it was from 1995, so thanks, huge relief to know that things did change for the better as a result. Would have been good for that bit of info to be mentioned with the link though.

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