One Child Policy: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver discusses China’s one-child policy, and all its consequences, intended and not.
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[@AccidentalNinja]

"We need a male to continue the family line." Except that male needs a female to continue your family line...

[@nikinikolov6570]

The logic behind it is that in a traditionalist country such as China the woman becomes a member of the man's family. It is complete bollocks of course.

[@irisy4541]

China’s ugly history of abandoning or killing new born baby girls goes back at least a thousand years. Even without the one child policy they would still prefer to use the money and time to raise and educate a son, rather than a daughter. For them, daughters do not count as offsprings. It’s like a religion.

[@sunfeatherX3]

A female that also WANTS children. Not all of us are just incubators

[@dimasakbar7668]

@@nikinikolov6570 the man continue family line, the man pay dowry for the bride, the woman are absorbed into the man's family line and expected to cater not only the man, but also the offsprings, and the in-laws. If the man get rowdy, it is unseemly for the woman to return / complain to her parents. Its a mere step away from actual human trafficking. Not only China, most conservative patriarchal society are like that.

[@AccidentalNinja]

@No Longer Human In order for the family line to continue, there need to be sons, but those sons can only have more sons if there are women to bear those sons. If there are no women because no one wants a girl as they can't pass on the family name, the family name dies anyway. Clear?

[@MeteorologistScottC]

I think we can all agree that buying a sex doll when you are pretty sure there is no chance you will find a wife is a far better option then paying for a kidnaped bride.

[@Widdekuu91]

However, with a sex-doll in your house, the chances of ever finding a woman are gone completely.

[@jeroldo111]

Shit.. hmm...(no time for jokes), agreed.

[@jeroldo111]

@@Widdekuu91 lies I say, women care way more about financial stability then perverse freakiness

[@tengkuadam1399]

@@Widdekuu91 Just don't tell anybody you have one! You can still meet women as long as you don't act like a creep

[@kappadarwin9476]

It is a million times better, if a girl really likes you she wouldn't really care for the thing.

[@rosehearts8380]

"Single men sit around with nothing to do." The fact they imply that these guys have nothing to do bc they are single is amazing.

[@ajwright5512]

I haven't had nothing to for over a decade.

[@phoenixleader1999]

you think we do anything

[@mr.x2567]

Sounds like incels

[@ajwright5512]

​@@mr.x2567 Not really, if you like free time, stay single. If you like commitments and responsibilities, don't. Gay people and any one else in a relationship have the same issues.

[@jgunn03]

I noticed that also. If they have nothing to do, it's because they have the privilege of not having anything to do.

[@mothiestman4995]

My childhood best friend was abandoned when her brother was born. Now she's captain of her highschool's cheer squad, has had straight A's her whole life, gets an adrenaline rush from organizing her backpack, and is planning on running for office one day. China lost a DAMN brilliant girl to that policy.

[@valerielutter7921]

And this is not that uncommon! My adopted Chinese daughter also got straight A's, graduated summa cum laud/Phi Beta kappa and accepted to four medical schools. She is beautiful and her father and I are so proud and love her so much. So many of these adopted daughters are superstars, too good for a country that does not value them.

[@ASCENDANTGAMERSAGE]

Adrenaline rush from organizing a backpack... I envy them.

[@nuance6631]

@fjf sjdnx bruh seriously?

[@Ludwig_Perpenhente]

@fjf sjdnx Curb your Enthusiasm

[@AdityaSingh-lp5rp]

That's good and all, but backpack? Then learning the dewy decimal system would blow her mind

[@ceceyam]

PLEASE interview Wang Zheng, one of China’s foremost feminist thinkers. In her own words, “Female infanticide was not a concern of the government. But men cannot find wife, that is a concern for the government.”

[@oijoioihiehie]

@@tomaszyarlett8681 Really???? Can you point me to some sources of that info. I'd like to read more about that

[@raventrunite6459]

Tomasz Yarlett notice how the male expectations are things you’re free to do with capital that gain you social standing and respect, and the female demands are basic rights, like equal pay, that would help them gain capital, social standing and respect? the argument that feminism is hypocrisy bc women arent willing to shoulder what men do is tired and baseless.

[@XHitsugaX]

well yeah, men with no hope and no romantic/sexual prospects are veeery bad for society veery bad. They will burn it down if they get angry enough.

[@natchayazhou6873]

oijoioihiehie there’s a split in feminism in china. The feminism he is referring to is not feminism but an exploitation of this gender inequality situation in China. Where people advocate for “feminism” while refuse to take responsibility. This caused many people in China, who previously did not encounter the concept of feminism, to have a false concept of “feminism”, believing that that this twisted, selfish version of feminism is Feminism in China. That is why feminism(usually written with emoji or similar sounding word to differentiate from feminism that advocate for equal right) is a word with negative implication word in China, especially online.

[@francoiscoupal7057]

@@natchayazhou6873 Or, you know, maybe it could be explained only with plain old misoginy at work, however "culturally justified" some pretend it to be. Occam's razor is still usefull.

[@notoriouspepper5554]

“My money is on Diva Cup because it sounds like what Mariah Carey demands all her beverages come in” Thank you John’s female writers for giving us that comedy gold.

[@chirpynsleepy958]

@@A-small-amount-of-peas meh, comedy is subjective

[@Krackerjax]

Im glad this disagreement ended so peacefully.

[@Drowsy_Communard]

Señor Griffin bruh you have an unironic family guy profile pic

[@DeeJayFM]

@@Drowsy_Communard why can't we just all be friends

[@Drowsy_Communard]

Abdul Peace was never an option!

[@katherinemorelle7115]

I remember a news story that had a lot of people in Australia very upset in the late 90s- a Chinese woman came here as a refugee because she was pregnant with her second child. She pleaded with the Australian government to just wait to send her back until after she’d had the kid (which shouldn’t have been a probable, we don’t have birthright citizenship here), but they didn’t. They sent her back at 8 months pregnant. And what she feared would happen is exactly what happened. Australians were furious! One more month was all she asked for. She knew it would mean her child would likely be taken from her and put in an orphanage- but that was better than a forced abortion at 8 months. Also, for those who can’t seem to wrap their heads around pro-CHOICE. The hint is in the last word. It’s about respecting the bodily autonomy and choices of the person who has to carry the pregnancy. It’s really not hard to understand. No, it doesn’t mean pro-abortion. It means exactly what the label says. Pro-choice.

[@katherinemorelle7115]

Gacha AndStuff no one chooses to abort their own baby for no reason in the third trimester. No one. It’s a ridiculous premise. It doesn’t happen. Th ONLY reason that pregnant people choose to abort in the third trimester is if the foetus is incompatible with life, or already dead. If it’s due to the health of the mother, and if the baby can be saved, that’s what they do- give birth early. Doctors don’t just abort for no reason that late. If the baby can be saved, that’s why they try to do. You can not compare a forced abortion by an authoritarian state to people who choose to have abortions. It is not the same thing. And pulling “but third trimester abortions are bad mmkay!” is just utter rot. Because unless it’s an authoritarian state doing it like in the story I mentioned above, it doesn’t happen unless the foetus is already dead (because removing a dead foetus is classed as an abortion) or soon will be. Using the immense pain of parents who have had to go through that impossible choice is just a shitty thing to do, and especially to further bullshit pro-forced birth narratives. So don’t do it.

[@stinepetersen861]

@@katherinemorelle7115 unfortunately some pro-lifers do use fear mongering where they claim that women get abortions until 9 month 🤨 like, really? Funnily enough they are never able to produce any evidence.

[@caseyr1154]

@Gacha AndStuff 3rd trimester abortions make up less than 1% of abortions. An abortion in the 3rd trimester is literally delivering early, knowing the fetus is incompatible with life. It means if you're told at 28 weeks that your baby has no kidneys and wont survive, you can make the choice to carry to term, or say goodbye earlier. It has absolutely nothing to do with military officers storming into your home, kidnapping you, and killing your unborn child because you couldnt turn off your fertility like a ligt switch.

[@ThestuffthatSaralikes]

I’ll never forget being called “pro abortion” for the first time. I was dumbfounded tbh. Like, even a doctor that performs abortions isn’t PRO abortion… I was literally speechless for like 15 seconds. Which is a *lifetime* in my world…

[@thumper84]

​@@katherinemorelle7115 abortion in any context is a crime against humanity. Eventually all those who support this evil will be dealt with accordingly.

[@Jacobs9991]

Bless that man for making sex dolls honestly. Who knows how many girls has been saved from human trafficking thanks to him.

[@AeroAngel111]

Or maybe desperate men shouldn't be forcing women to have sex with them against their will.

[@futuza]

@@AeroAngel111 Is that not a given obvious? But it may surprise you to learn that we, as a general public, cannot magically make scumbags NOT do something they're inclined to do. Due to their nature as scumbags. Especially when we have no way of knowing which ones are and are not scumbags. This guy is at least doing something to help alleviate the issue, rather than standing by and hoping that scum will just fix themselves.

[@7lawaneeena]

@@futuza you don't know how much I agree with you

[@yourdedcat-qr7ln]

@Julie W. Agreed legalized prostitution would help

[@dimasakbar7668]

@Unknown if people in rural area can "buy" trafficked human from poorer neighboring country, you can be sure the urban people (who are more of sex doll market) can afford one too.

[@bucca2]

My dad had a colleague whose LITERAL LEGAL NAME was “fined 50,000” so. Yeah.

[@YTEdy]

@@timomonochrom115 I'm only guessing, but it seems likely that many are not able to afford the fine. Kind of like bail in the USA.

[@commandoclo]

@@YTEdy It is. Anyone is allowed to pay the fine and if they do, the child gets to live a pretty normal life. If not they're pretty much considered dead by the government.

[@orchdork775]

I think it's so shitty that parents did that to their kids. Like damn, it's not the kid's fault.

[@bucca2]

@@timomonochrom115 he explained that in the video. The government pawned off enforcement onto local officials so it was different based on where you live

[@bucca2]

@@orchdork775 welcome to Asian parenting

[@Rungus27]

That woman crying about her 9 month forced abortion was honestly heartbreaking.

[@robbhays8077]

It's horrifying. If we started a war in China right now, we'd be justified based solely on such atrocities. CCP is one of the most evil regimes in human existence. Right up there with Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia and the child-soldier warlords of Africa.

[@Rjasper499]

@@douglasyoung7998 Doug, who are you talking about? Are you saying the US was brought into prosperity by China?

[@jazminehardison3643]

Right!!! Smh 😢

[@mostmelon]

It's basically just murdering a baby.

[@3Rayfire]

Absolutely horrific.

[@Stella-vj6sx]

China: We introduced a policy that made it impossible for 34 million men to have a traditional family, even if they wanted to. Also China: We have strict censorship rules in place to prevent the display of homosexuality on TV, because to show it will endanger traditional family structures. We simply cannot take that risk. We love traditional family structures!

[@RyuKyu.77]

China: we are definitely communist

[@user-cr6qv1bn2u]

Also chuna in 2023. Blaming women for not pumping enough children.

[@Resi1ience]

I'll never understand how there hasn't been a major uprising in China yet, other than the Hong Kong protests.

[@RyuKyu.77]

It sucks that those 34 million men can't even date other men, wouldn't that also kinda give space for the single straight men who are left out? LET THE GAYS GO TO THE RESCUE!

[@DopeyDetector]

Look into ametikkka's policies before you cast stoned, yankkke

[@jellysecret]

for anyone wanting an update: in may 2021 the 7th national census was released in china, showing that the birthrate was still declining. the chinese government implemented a 3 child policy in june 2021. in august 2021 they stripped out all of the penalties for more children, so functionally there is no hard cap on the number of children.

[@heiskanbuscadordelaverdad8709]

Next is probably forced pregnancy

[@juandanielcastanierrivas9545]

In 2023 the fertility rate of China was about 1.0 according to their authorities, foreign estimates have put it at 0.8, which means it could be the least fertile country in the world along with South Korea. Internal analysts think they will bounce back the next few years, others believe it’ll continue to collapse. At this rate, the Chinese would disappear in a little more than a century.

[@user-cr6qv1bn2u]

The main issue is atheists. Chins, SK, and Japan hand high population of atheists. Pretty countries will soon follow

[@camillasoares9289]

​@@user-cr6qv1bn2u the main problem is aetheists? Are you out of your mind? The main problem is people cant afford to live decently anywhere, let alone have children.

[@chonkcat7362]

@@user-cr6qv1bn2u birth rates are falling in very religious countries as well though...If the issue was the boogeyman of atheism, surely that would be easily solved by forcing people into religion, no?

[@ilovegod0106]

I was adopted because of the one child policy. Living a great life in Canada.

[@ilmu011]

Dodged a bullet there buddy

[@ilovegod0106]

ninjamaster1337 no. I’m 21. I used my dad’s account when I was younger and it’s too late to transfer all my stuff to my email address. And then he got friends asking why his emails had my name so I changed it to his. Can’t win I Guess.

[@Ammar34567]

@@ilovegod0106 Well you were an adorable and lucky baby! Good for you :)

[@ilovegod0106]

Ammar Faraz thanks

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

Friends of mine adopted a young girl from the SW of China. If your parents had to jump through as many hoops as they did, you can absolutely always know that there's nothing they wouldn't do for you. I actually stood as a witness for them in a meeting with the social services who were going to decide whether they were "good enough" (frankly they'd be better served being at the GP surgery as soon as some people find out they're expecting. And I'm not thinking "don't let poor people have kids", there are numerous middle class people I know who should never have been allowed to breed!). Fortunately as I have enough of my own, I was able to enjoy letting them practise on my youngest lol. They were wonderful btw, I wouldn't have done that otherwise! I just remember the stress they went through - it was awful. So I'm so glad you are happy, because I'm sure your parents didn't have an easy job bringing you home where you belong (where you're born isn't always where you're meant to be ;)).

[@justalilwitchy]

As a child adopted from china because of this policy I'm thrilled to see that John brought this issue up.

[@Anona_Meows]

Have you watched the documentary on Amazon Prime called "One Child Nation?" It is heart breaking.

[@KTK-mp7iw]

Same. Random question: have u ever had a white guy try to tell u that the one child policy wasnt that big of a deal cuz apparently his male friend from china told him they'd just hace to pay a fine?

[@raining_macondo]

@@KTK-mp7iw ur logic is a mess, she was adopted not because she was not first child, but a female, otherwise her mother would have already had a abortion a lot earlier. If you want to keep a second child, nobody would just have the child killed but you would have to pay a resultant fine. Problem being, not you but also ur local offical(a mayor probably) will get a bad record which will affect his career later on, therefore he may use some illegal method to enforce the policy, in some provincial region, even forced abortion.

[@LightYagami-wt1jw]

Sad stuff

[@kayla6190]

Me too! I got brought over to America because I’m a girl.

[@rebeccap274]

The Rat is taking the pizza to his teenage ninja turtle friends

[@victor.rivera9817]

😂

[@excelll3332]

That was Master Splinter and you can’t change my mind

[@Ndstars1]

*sons

[@linhnguyen6509]

Thanks for mentioning the human trafficking business. That was one of my biggest fears growing up as a girl in Vietnam.

[@thinhvo3893]

As vietnamese I can confirm

[@deathpony698]

21:42 "Family planning officers conduct pregnancy tests every 3 months" How dystopian is that?

[@merebb]

@Darris Hawks They showed that woman going through the factory and describing her job as having to ask the female workers detailed questions about their cycles and whether or not they're pregnant. That plus the forced abortions, you really think they would stop at that?

[@Q_QQ_Q]

Under his Eye .

[@merebb]

@@Q_QQ_Q blessed be the fruit

[@Q_QQ_Q]

@merebb May the lord Open .

[@funkeymanx]

The dystopia goes much further than that.

[@ShootAUT]

"21k Chen" should start rapping. He has already got one hell of a name for it.

[@Momofukudoodoowindu]

Lmfaooo

[@nishantsharma7436]

That would be lit 🔥🔥🔥

[@SomeRandomJackAss]

You beat me to it.

[@grimbelfix2648]

I read it as ""21k Chen" should start raping"

[@thiago713]

His LP will be dropping next Tuesday entitled "Lil Bro - the struggle vol I" on Cash money records!

[@22yayayaya]

This adds a lot of context to a documentary I saw about the immense pressure and shame poured on women who chose not to marry.

[@Nrapolastic]

Please share the name of the documentary?

[@joejia1410]

My grandma actually paid for me to NOT be aborted, which is really sad when you think about it as I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a few thousand dollars.

[@lauranetta6015]

hope they didn't name you bribe or corruption in chinese language))) Never thought people would actually be better with corruption...

[@joejia1410]

@@lauranetta6015 Nah didnt name me those things, I got a pretty good upbringing

[@phuct4980]

@@joejia1410 I’m happy for you, in Vietnam used to have a two child policy because holy hell the population growth went sky high here after the wars which is bad because my country back then was under an embargo from the US and poor as hell so the government have to do something before they have to deal with mass starvation so they implement the policy. They already remove that policy years ago and Vietnam fertility rate is not dropping hard about 2-2,15. My family tree is quite huge, 5-6 uncles and 4-5 aunts in total in my family which me and my sister have to support when we have a jobs.

[@joejia1410]

@@phuct4980 Damn, I dont know how to respond to this...

[@phuct4980]

@@joejia1410 well you don’t have to this kind of extended family is the NORM here so most of the local don’t really care that much.

[@nerfirelia8235]

Imagine having to take care of 4 grandparents and 2 parents, but then the government also wants you to raise 2 children at the same time.

[@TehBurek]

They've upgraded to 4-2-1-2 now.

[@Ohfishyfishyfish]

@@TehBurek One more kid and we'll have 3 up top, a strong, loving, supporting midfield, and granny wingbacks pumping dumplings in the box.

[@LancesArmorStriking]

@@TehBurek At least it's not 6-7-8-9-9-9-8-2-1-2 I hope you get the reference lol

[@tamratbefekadu6549]

@@Ohfishyfishyfish Maybe one of the midfielders has got a red card.

[@anisatajy9445]

Didn't they hear about division of labour or duties? Sure, when doing math having many children is detrimental for the future but their future now tells that in fact it is a blessing by God that they deprived themselves off of.

[@atomichippy2]

Chinese military officials creating a society with an excess of males with nothing to live for isn’t an error in foresight, it’s a recruiting tactic.

[@sethclippard1527]

atomichippy exactly. How easy is it to go to war with 30 million disposable gun-carriers? It’s like Galaga.

[@ramirodelbosque7280]

Brilliant I’d say.

[@rinbin4234]

Ramiro Del Bosque press *x* to show concern

[@Spookyboo96]

Shit man

[@ashb7]

Fucking hell, that's devious. Would also suggest why they're still not open to letting people have as many kids as they want even with the rampant human trafficking, business is just too booming for the military.

[@SaraWolffs]

I like how John can make "Happy 70th" sound like "F You".

[@DopeyDetector]

Dopey

[@italia4u192837465]

"Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist."

[@hannahgoldkamp8888]

Funnily enough, the first person to ring the alarm bells about overpopulation was Thomas Malthus, an economist.

[@opiumbrella3351]

Nobody thinks that. And are you justifying the Chinese governments actions?

[@allthenewsordeath5772]

@@hannahgoldkamp8888 And he was wrong, though to be fair unless we figure out fusion power, the population will have to stabilize.

[@elovejapan7818]

Or someone living in the 1920s

[@Hirnlego999]

@@opiumbrella3351 Lots of people believe that, economic growth above anything else. Greed is the one true religion on this planet.

[@theodoreshuai2990]

I guess I'm the guy who's lucky enough to have a sister when this policy was still being carried on. I don't have such a tragic story, my father was an officer, and he managed to keep my sister using his influence. Now my sister is 13-years-old and we had a wonderful childhood together, when I was in high school, she used to hang around outside my classroom and rush to hug me when I came out. I can't imagine what if I was brought up alone, it was my sister who taught me the value of brotherhood and the responsibility of being an elder brother, and I guess the most of our generation will never have a chance to experience all that, what a shame.

[@joshuacox534]

famines and pollution from overpopulation is also a shame. it's great that it worked out for you on a personal level but humans are still destroying the planet

[@bennie1223]

@@joshuacox534 When countries prosper, the citizens have less children. The way to decrease population levels is to educate people and have laws in place that allows for success.

[@Elenrai]

@Mike Jamieson Probably due to the legal system, you need to be a registered resident if I recall correctly, you can move freely to another region, but that might also mean you are no longer having the same rights as if you were a registered resident of your "home region" so say the sister is registered as a resident of Shanghai, while her brother and the rest of the family reside in Beijing, if she wants to go to school she can only do it in Shanghai, as the local Beijing governement is not required to do so, and the local governments often struggle in various ways due to the structure of the central government in relation to those local governments. Imagine China operating kinda like the EU, to put it in a more simplistic context. His sister is a citizen of Spain and he might be a citizen of France. Now this is NOT REMOTELY CORRECT in truth but its somewhat accurate, I recommend looking up the youtube channels called ADVChina and Chinauncensored , for a lot more info on china, the uncensored channel is VERY BIASED and I do NOT recommend it as your primary source, for that id go for ADVChina! (tho they have to self censor on occasion so Chinauncensored is great in that way, even if the host is a bit of a cock)

[@miumiumiup4625]

It’s exactly the same here with me

[@ameshee670]

@Mike Jamieson lol re-read his comment. "now my sister is 13 years old"... "when I was in high school, she used to hang around outside my classroom". Years ago she wasn't old enough to be in class...

[@TheLinneann]

I had a friend in China who was a second child and she felt so much pressure to be perfect because she also cost 30k. It’s some crazy shit.

[@saketsagar2156]

very disheartening truth ! I wish her a very peaceful rational life.

[@-._.-KRiS-._.-]

Interesting. It costs that much to have a child in America, too.

[@donjones2500]

Rural Chinese people can have more than 1 baby. Checked a few YTer bloggers, their chinese wife have sisters and brothers, it's not uncommon anymore. China has always embraced capitalism.

[@ll2240]

Yes. I paid the same amount for my post order bride. Prices are just too high.

[@xstoofpeer]

Imagine how children in the US with a chronic condition must feel, they cost a couple million dollars to keep alive.

[@blanchekonieczka9935]

Back in the 80s during a marijuana enhanced discussion, I commented that due to China's one child policy and their preference for male children, some day there were going to be a lot of lonely Chinese men. My friends laughed at me and passed me the bong. 🤪

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Is that so Accurate?

[@mustang8206]

Imagine thinking your cool for smoking weed

[@blanchekonieczka9935]

@@mustang8206 there's nothing wrong with weed. It isn't physically addictive nor is it psychotropic. I still occasionally smoke the one without THC to relieve muscle spasms. BTW, it's "you're" not "your". "Your" means belongings to you while "you're" is a contraction of you and are.

[@AleTitan]

@@mustang8206 He was just mentioning it. He's not bragging or anything

[@whitericeboi]

@@mustang8206 imagine being such a complete toolbox that someone just mentioning weed bothers you.

[@azmodanpc]

My heart goes to all the lucky Chinese girls that were adopted (many SMUGGLED out of China, think of it: child SMUGGLERS are the good guys here!!!) by other parents and found caring families outside of China.

[@sigmaballsnetwork]

When human trafficking somehow ends up the good thing!

[@DopeyDetector]

Dopey

[@XiyuYang]

I'm a one child policy kid, I was born in 1993, and I wasn't my mom's first pregnancy. She was pregnant in 1987 with a girl, under the pressure from family, friends and the local law enforcements, she had an abortion because of a particularly horrible discrimination against women/female gender in Chinese traditional culture (I was raised in a fairly conservative region in China). She endured a few years of abusive behavior from my father after her abortion, and was pregnant with me in 1992. To this day I have no idea how she managed to endure all those, all by herself, for so many years, while still being the loving mother she is. She is the strongest person I have ever known, she is my hero. My mom's life could have been happier and I could have had a sister, if this policy wasn't there. There are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of similar stories during the 80s and 90s in China. The government implemented this policy at the cost of the happiness of an entire generation. The policy itself was a short sighted mistake from the very beginning. It had a short term benefit, fertility rate dropped drastically in the 80s and population growth was controlled. But the long term harm it introduced to gender equality, fertility rate, wellfare, education, medical care and all other aspects of people's lives are immeasurable, not to mention the discrimination against women was amplified by this policy (look up suicide rate of Chinese women and the amount of abandoned baby girls in rural China, you'll see). In a few years the population will start to drop, and in a few decades the majority of Chinese population will be elderly people. Disproportionate population structure (both in gender and in age) will be a major difficulty, maybe even the downfall of contemporary China. Not to mention it's incredibly inhumane. Human lives are not numbers in some official statistics, as you can see, this policy has already caused and will continue to cause suffering amongst Chinese people. Heavy topic, thank you for reading this and have a good day :)

[@mjseg3616]

X Y thank you for sharing. I’ll keep it short; first, you’re mom is a great person, second is that i agree! Humans aren’t statistics. If only there’s a way to hold the the Chinese government accountable. Welp, I’ll research more about this then, I want to know more.

[@DizzyBusy]

This made me cry. Your mother is a great person, and I'm glad she got you, and you made sure she wasn't alone anymore in the family. I wish you a good day and a great life

[@katiecramerson7778]

Thank you so much for sharing. My heart goes out to your mother and the many women who have gone through similar experiences.

[@gbaboy7775]

That is a heavy story, but thanks for sharing man.

[@tierone3895]

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

[@victoriaxiong5319]

Oh damn, that poor woman at 11:00 breaks my heart.... my mom was in the exact same situation as she was in - my father already had a child from his first marriage. My mom was already 37 years old, and 6 months pregnant, and she was told by government officers that she couldn't have me. They threatened to fire my father from work. My mom shot back that she'll just divorce him before they do anything of that sort. She was pissed, and she was determined to have me. She went all tiger mum on them, accusing them of inhumanity and hurling insults, countering every threat they made. (At one point she insinuated that she'll just ask for asylum from the U.S ) It wasn't very diplomatic, and normally it wouldn't have ended well, but miraculously, they backed down, (I mean I guess my mom can be really scary, and perhaps they did have an inkling of a conscience) and I was born with a proper citizenship and stuff, without fines. I always just saw this as a really touching story about my mother's love for me. And I knew I was fortunate. But I also thought that 'well, I was technically her first child, plus, it was 2001, perhaps policy was less violently enforced, so... maybe that's why they backed down. ' Now I realise how lucky I really was, because I could have easily been that child, and my amazing mother would have to suffer just as that poor lady did. I don't know how necessary the one child policy really was... Maybe it was for the greater good, maybe it was just another evil policy of the very-bad-at-adjusting-to-reality and rather amoral communist government. Either way, let's just take a moment to acknowledge the human tragedies that it caused. Because people are not statistics, and the trauma never really goes away. (And seriously, go hug your mom/dad and tell them you love them) (And since this is a rather depressing topic - I love y'all too, strangers of the internet, hope you have a good day ahead)

[@sapphicmorena5791]

Your mom is amazing! I'm glad you're here :)

[@chandniajmera]

Wow.. Your mom is really strong, and I'm happy for you. Thank you for sharing your story with us here :)

[@NJ-wb1cz]

❤❤❤ (I'm adding a comment just to not forget to read the full post later)

[@Kaiwala]

To your health my good man! And to your mother's as well!

[@darylsummers3338]

You're too wholesome for the internet. We need more of that.

[@sterlingc9846]

Maggie O'Neil was an adoptee in Canada during the One Child Policy and she just won gold in 100m butterfly in Tokyo beating a Chinese, power to her and congrats and keep on winning She also won a bronze and silver in freestyle relay.

[@nirvana47]

This comment is not factual.. did you get the name right?

[@hythrain]

As a 35 year old adult with three adorable nephews... my ideal dinner guest IS someone who insists their food be dinosaur shaped! THAT SOUNDS AWESOME! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, JOHN?! YOU'RE A MONSTER!

[@samashbloom3230]

"My female writers told me that one of those things I just said isn't real. And they refuse to tell me which one." 😂

[@jammieclark1200]

It's the toilet paper. Diva cups are definitely real. This made me lol, especially since my hubby want sure either and we have 3 girls.

[@ninninin656]

@@jammieclark1200 I don't find that funny but rather deeply sad. This whole "men find periods scary and gross" trope needs to die in a fire - ESPECIALLY if you are a father, for fuck's sake!

[@atanaciogarza7176]

@@ninninin656 yeah you're right; but, periods are scary and gross.

[@priscillajimenez27]

Ask your wife lol

[@brunosales2311]

germankiwigal stfu no one cares

[@justwannafreefx9419]

Pro choice has it in its name Choice A forced abortion is simply... Clearly not a choice...?

[@imluvinyourmum]

But according to you it’s simply eliminating nothing, there is no death and it’s completely moral as it’s biological waste not a human life, so what is the problem now?

[@CamelDance]

@@imluvinyourmum forced abortion forces people to undergo invasive medical procedures they don't want. Is that so hard to understand. On top of that, forced abortions are denying people the right to reproduce. Or would you be ok with forced sterilizations. What even is your argument. Are you aware that for there to be an abortion someone has to be pregnant. Are you aware that women are people.

[@kpencil859]

@@CamelDance This reminds me of those Combine soldiers from Half-Life.

[@obo2999]

@@CamelDance the point is the hypocrisy

[@bobjones2959]

@@obo2999 There is no hypocrisy. If they said that forced abortion isn't okay because abortion is murder, while simultaneously denying the idea that abortion in general constitutes murder, *that* would be hypocritical. However, pro-choice proponents simply do not see abortion as murder in *any* sense, their problem with forced abortion has to do with the "forced" part, not the "abortion" part. Try actually understanding the other side of the argument before you try to call it out.

[@niteeshbihade1789]

The Chinese Communist government is going to face the curse of that poor mother, who was forced to abort at 9 months. This was so heartening. How cruel could those authorities be!

[@revolutionarybishop2352]

on the opposite, indian gov is gonna watch billions of overpopulated people die due to shortages of resourses. the one child policy is a great move to keep the world not populated

[@niteeshbihade1789]

@@revolutionarybishop2352 This is a very childish and immature perspective. Indian population grew due to sudden decline in death rate and increased longevity. India today is very different and much opulent. It has no shortages of resources. Our governments then, despite being poor, never forced anything upon us. The new birth rate has been significantly lower since past three decades. The population is now controlled and is going to start shrinking in the near future. Hurting people, damaging nature and all through unscientific ways is what the Chinese government has been doing. Just take example of the recent Chinese COVID virus. So many Western nations have been suffering due to it. Each country has to be responsible for caring for our mother earth. Just blindly rushing for economic development at cost of nature is not good.

[@revolutionarybishop2352]

@@niteeshbihade1789 Its true your gov didn't force you to do anything and that's because they are too corrupted and you guys are still using FEUDAL SYSTEMS to distinguish peasants, loyalties and other classes.

[@jerryqian5184]

@@niteeshbihade1789 Pretty well said!

[@opai1821]

@GreaterGood510 well i believe your iq is too low understand the science of populations in 70s many scientist predicted that india will run out of resources because of its growing population , but they were terribly wrong , they forgot one thing that we are humans and we will seek for other reliable resources or develop the present resources , soon india had a green revolution which helped india to come out from hunger , well i believe the population is good if u know how to use it as great resources , so i think you should look for your country betterment instead of giving us advice

[@mfrenchcazenovia]

I adopted my daughter in China in 2003. She had been abandoned by the side of a highway in Southern China in June. I honestly believe she was left to die. Well, she’s quite the survivor. 18 years old now, she has multiple special needs, so she is in a residential program and doing very well. When I reached out to her adoption coordinator in China to ask some health related questions, I was cut off. I’ve never been able to get any information.

[@LarisaC.]

I once told a Chinese student about an article on a girl in China being left on train by her parents because they didn’t want her. He said this must have been a lie. Indoctrination works pretty well.

[@askthepizzaguy]

John Oliver is really angry underneath that smile, and so am I.

[@TheFireHawk7]

It's part of the British comic tradition - look up Terry Pratchett sometime. Cheerful, exceptionally witty, loveable... and driven by a furious anger at the world.

[@salenebrom6476]

Rhodri it’s amazing

[@nathanseper8738]

@@TheFireHawk7 Polite anger seems intrinsic to British people.

[@krzysztofpiasek5682]

@@TheFireHawk7 Yup, his satirical works based on other authors stupid ideas are one of the best pieces of comedy ever created.

[@mnemeikyu9299]

Frankly, aren't we all.

[@michaelpalacios8951]

Say what you like, I think a name like 20,000 Chen is just begging for a record label to pick him up.

[@dylanchouinard6141]

His new single ‘Fine Life’ is absolutely fire!

[@geriibra1645]

Got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one, cause all my bitches are fking plastic dolls 😕

[@mephirez2274]

Chinese 50 cent

[@maggiekwan6700]

@@mephirez2274 More like 3.57 Yuan

[@AsianSensatiion]

@@dylanchouinard6141 Gold. Platinum. Legend.

[@user-xr3nm2ws4g]

I was born in 1995. I have an older brother who was born in 1994. My mother had a miscarriage before I was born. When she found out that she was pregnant again, I was 3 months old. Fortunately, I was retained. When I was 8 years old, I applied for Chinese household registration in order to go to school. My nickname is chaochao, which means I’m superborn.

[@EmoryStudy]

I taught English in China. It was so difficult teaching them the concept of brothers and sisters. Every student was an only child. Also, 90% of my students were obese. The little Emperor thing is true too. I had parents interrupt my lesson because they wanted to give their kid a drink of warm water.

[@HannahFoster]

Thank you for shedding light on this subject. I was born during this policy's strictest implementation. My birth mother anonymously dropped me off at a police station when I was around one month old, risking her life so that I could live. I was then taken to an orphanage and was extremely fortunate to be adopted by a loving American single mom. My mom said that all of the babies in my province placed in orphanages that were born the previous year died, most likely due to a lack of resources. Many of my Chinese international classmates are male w/o siblings. I read "A Mother's Ordeal" by Steven Mosher and consider it an eye-opening and sobering account of the policy's consequences.

[@ArthurKnight1899]

You are one of the most luckiest one's girl! God bless!

[@Fire-Manz]

Reminds me of that one "hey Arnold" episode. It's just sad ...

[@reapthemars8741]

Happy for you!

[@lovely-mk4rt]

Thank you for your text

[@kimhansen8615]

It's so heartbreaking and dehumanizing. Thanks for sharing and so happy you were lucky.

[@alyssarose98ap]

I was a byproduct of the One-Child Policy. I was the 2nd child and I was abandoned and put in an orphanage. I was adopted and brought to America. I was very lucky to be given a chance to live a better life here in America, where I am a part of a loving family and where I have the opportunity to pursue my higher education. I am currently attending university in hopes to receive my PhD in biomedical engineering. So although I lost my biological family, I was given a second chance at life by my adoptive family.

[@heribertosarmiento1265]

Wow that’s one sad family history :(

[@alexiskiri9693]

Lucky you. At least you weren't left by the side of the road to die.

[@abhi3095]

@Lord Colin murica😂😂😂

[@lessthanamillionsubscommun5845]

Alyssa Powell, well, at least it had a happy ending. I hope you’ve learned to live with it and are doing better now.

[@abhi3095]

@Lord Colin Why do the British prefer to say Murica, and not America?

[@MrFForger]

"History is memes now." I get most of my world news from reddit so I'm not against this idea.

[@vb2806]

It has always been, don't you remember caricatures in newspapers?

[@danielp8670]

Imagine having a baby with a knob on his head tell you you violated the law lmao

[@devlinburgess2463]

"Donald Duck pulls out the key to...family planning? from his bag" Man, this early draft of Kingdom Hearts was weird.

[@mother-aiya]

Not the DLC we were expecting

[@bluecanine3374]

It was a keyblade not to unlock hearts, but uteruses

[@uncivil_engineer8013]

And yet somehow this isn't the most morally compromising video that Donald Duck has appeared in.

[@inciaradible7144]

Luckily, Kingdom Hearts turned out totally clear and straightforward.

[@peacechan4500]

@@inciaradible7144 right...

[@anisatajy9445]

My heart broke for the woman who had to go through forced abortion at her 9th month.

[@drentparty]

The trauma of that will haunt her for the rest of her life. That type of mentality and policy put into action has more consequences on humanity than probably anything else mentioned in this video...which is sad. To think the implementing of it would even allow for such a thing to be done with no regard for her life, her body, or the child at all is completely devastating.

[@rogerx1258]

One would think if any these circumstances would have warranted an exception. Poor woman...

[@casperchristensen8354]

At that point its infant murder. I mean, a baby can survive with a bit of help after 8 months.

[@DmonHiro]

At 9 months is that even an abortion?

[@blitherbox7467]

Chinese karma. Better them than anyone else. Mao killed China.

[@late8641]

I live in Finland and I have a friend who's adopted from China and who was born during the one child policy. She's probably lucky to even be alive.

[@emiliomcb4121]

I felt that arrow through my heart. 9 mouth abortion is horrific and I truly hope you find peace. The sadness is overwhelming just hearing what you went through.

[@sushiwife429]

John Oliver coincidentally being a character in a chinese propaganda video has made my day

[@Odinsday]

BrainChoice Oh shit, you have brain damage as well

[@yomaze2009]

@BrainChoice Also sounds a lot like a certain political party that wants unlimited free abortions at will for persons who consented but failed to be responsible.

[@stan5250]

You don't need much, good husky.

[@fangal12]

@@yomaze2009 LMAO! Do you actually believe that or are you just trolling?

[@edwinkjellzahn]

The one time HBO puts their foot down is when John wanted to make a giant 70 out of headless silicone corpses.

[@Trixareforkidsvegeta]

nah, the problem was he wanted to make 2 giants out of sex dolls making a 70, ymca style

[@alexsilva28]

I was expecting the curtains to lift up and show that

[@sachiththehero]

It would have been better if it was "69 + 1"

[@melonlord1414]

This clearly is an aftereffect of not having that dragon money anymore

[@zejdland]

Communism/Socialism is the reason this happens in china

[@geekgirl_luv4262]

I’d obviously rather someone buy a sex doll than force a kidnapped woman to marry them, but the fact that men would consider either of those a replacement for a wife is very concerning and says a LOT about how they see women. If the reason they wanted to get married was because they wanted a mutually loving relationship with someone they actually like and care about as an individual, they wouldn’t look towards sex dolls or human trafficking as a substitute.

[@benjaminlibal994]

If they want more children to be born, would it not be easier to let people have 3 children than to try to force people to have at least two?

[@ZielAmerak]

with 1 child per couple you low the population, with 2 per couple you keep the population and 3 per couple you grow the population, they don't want to grow the amount of people, they want to distribute better the population. with 2 child per couple every adult have to provide per 1 child and 1 elder, in most parts you keep a constant work force.

[@azmodanpc]

@@ZielAmerak Yes but it's not like EVERY family can be asked to have exactly 2 children. The policy (one or two child policy) is idiotic just the same. Now the richer couples are not having babies since they are career focused and more educated (and wealthy), so they have 1 or zero. The poorer and lesser educated couples will barely have two since they have been scared into having at most two and prefer male heirs (patriarchal society and whatnot), making the problem just worse.

[@GeneralBrae]

I spent a month in China, and remember speaking to a local at some length about the policy and its effects. Interestingly, he was saying that although he could now have 2 kids (already had 1) he didnt intend to for one major reason. Apparently in many Chinese cities there is a massive housing shortage - he has a home he can fit 3 people in, getting one with room for 4 would be waaay more than he could ever afford. So he and according to him many of the people he knows are just sticking with 1 child anyway

[@titheproven954]

I didn't think of that. I would also assume that most housing that does exist is also made with the idea of the OCP and that the majority of homes are made for only 3 people in the first place.

[@pietersteenkamp5241]

@@titheproven954 While millions of AMericans are homeless with millions of empty homes....

[@willianrodrigues684]

@@pietersteenkamp5241 and china have empty cities, are you american?

[@pietersteenkamp5241]

@@willianrodrigues684 China has serious issues distributing resources and building entirely new cities from scratch and then populating them isn't the easiest thing. Of course comparatively speaking China is still a far poorer country than the USA so if they have trouble getting their citizens spending power ( need to produce the goods) that may be understandable but why in the richest country on earth there needs to be both millions in prisons&'justice system' (4-5 million) and millions of children experiencing homeless in any given year is much much harder to qualify as some quirk. I am not American but i have been there and saw rural poverty first hand.

[@kazoode]

I was told of this story from a person who visited some Chinese factories, because of quality issues his factory was receiving from factories in China.... He showed up in his mandated work uniform. Blue jeans (denim is flame resistant), long sleeve denim shirt, steel toe boots, eye protection, and ear protection. He saw men in sandals and shorts laughing at him. The mangier told him it was because "he was so tall". Then the point hit home for me, in his story. He saw a man fall into the smelter, and the factory continued on, because production. At the end of the work day the workers swept all the scraps of everything on the floor into the smelter...... I can imagine what you said as only being able to support one child. Then I can imagine being that one worker in shorts and sandals, seeing a coworker falling into a smelter and realizing I have keep working. For that one child.

[@geniusfollower]

John's female writers ribbing him and letting him go on air with plausibly half-serious, incomplete information for the sake of a joke is the kind of hilarity I am here for.

[@DeeJayFM]

@@ichijofestival2576 I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to use Google. It ain't that hard

[@knightwing5169]

I'm pretty sure they wrote the joke at 10:06 too.

[@COO415]

@genius. What a self serving & ignorant comment. Actually, what John had here is very tamed compared to the documentary "One Child Nation" by Amazon Studios. Humanity is more often callousl or simply evil. And the Central govt of China fits that bill.

[@Thenoobestgirl]

@@ichijofestival2576 you must be fun at parties...

[@LightYagami-wt1jw]

It's a joke inside a joke dumbass.

[@risky02218]

I take offense to this. If I could have all my food dinosaur-shaped, I 100% would.

[@ForrestFox626]

Agreed!

[@louisemelville9825]

So happy I yeeted out of there due to being adopted.

[@variansloth]

"we need more children" "but we're going to punish people who have a third"

[@figandsalt3348]

The former one is a reluctant acknowledge to the fact and the latter one is for appeasing the huge "family planning" bureaucratic machine which had claimed that Chinese population would immediately boom and cause serious social disorder if the One Child Policy were cancelled. These "civil servants" have been announcing that quibbling for decades since Chinese population growth started to drop significantly even til today. It's just for their own benefit of course, for all their power relies on those family planning crap.

[@xponen]

@Ultra Mega they want to keep the rich stay rich, they want them to have kids while prevent poor people from having much. Kids help poor people because they can work at farm or find money, poor people without kids will die poor & alone.

[@LadySnowfaerie]

Why can't the people not interested in kids sell their "child permits" to the families who want more than two?

[@nitin577]

@Ultra Mega So you basically want the rich to reproduce and the poor not to, cuz they couldn't. The whole history of humanity has been more or less poor. The more wealthy one becomes the higher standard of living and less children means less money spent. So the rich will not have more kids!!!!!!! That's why developed nations have a decline in population growth. My main problem is that women are checked periodically if they are pregnant or not. Think about it.. How embarrassing and inconvenient it is...

[@xponen]

@Ultra Mega the poor have no chance to become rich if only 2 kids. It's about survival and large family have better chance.

[@crazym1me]

"Ultra Absorbent Period Toliet Paper" Dude shut up and take my money I would love that stuff.

[@craigcorson3036]

So, buy that stuff: www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=ultra+absorbent+sanitary+pads

[@mayadelaneys]

@@craigcorson3036 That's...that's not toilet paper tho. You can't flush it and wiping with a pad would be a waste of a pad.

[@heathermarie5139]

@@craigcorson3036 and this is why we have a term called "mansplaining" lol. Woman: I would like this thing to help with my period. Man: Silly woman, that thing already exists! I will deign to show you!

[@craigcorson3036]

@@mayadelaneys I guess my point was that ANYTHING that exists can be found on the internet. One merely needs to look.

[@horrormakeupgirl]

Craig Corson okay great but HER point was IT DOESNT EXIST

[@wyattwaud769]

It genuinely feels weird to watch this with an audience right now

[@shiyihuang9861]

John, I feel you might also want to talk about China imposing heavy fans on women who have children before getting married, which is totally absurb

[@Floatian]

what？

[@lauranetta6015]

r u for real??? do you mean these days or old days ???

[@liv9937]

As a girl adopted from China due to the one child policy my heart breaks and I imagine my birth mother so much in the woman crying at 11:00. Thanks for bringing attention to this, especially because: - I think it's an issue that used to be a hot topic but people have sort of forgotten about EVEN THOUGH IT'S STILL A THING - Since the one child policy is old news, it reminds us that we should not stop being outraged and accept this as normal, especially in one of the largest and most powerful countries on earth

[@nieznajomy4398]

"I think it's an issue that used to be a hot topic" Honestly I can remember at least one sitcoms from 90's in which they adopted child from China (I think it was a girl) and as a kid I was wondering why from China? Now I know why....

[@lorraine9242]

She is probably still crying for you.

[@Ludwig_Perpenhente]

They latter on nae nae'd the One Child Policy to The Two Child Policy

[@jamesgomez9151]

My sister in law's family came from China when she was 20, her parents had 4 kids, 3 daughters and a son. I asked her if she and her sisters (all of them are very pretty) were higher valued because the impending gender gap. She told me they weren't valued at all compared to their little brother. All 3 daughters went on to get college degrees (My sister in law got a PhD) and the son became a car salesman, and he still is held in higher regard than his sisters. There is just a huge difference cultures.

[@rachelciel3330]

You bet. The son could be a leeching hermit and the sisters could be doctors, the parents would still value the son more.

[@mokshavortice]

The only intrinsic value women have is to procreate any thing else a man can do better, adding the government intervention only diminishes that value as she is only allowed two children which is still under replacement.

[@PhoenixProdLLC]

@@mokshavortice

[@Ravi-xf8dw]

@@mokshavortice what the fuck? Man can't do shit

[@geek7227]

Same in India.

[@varadbhandare4441]

As an Indian, I can say that Infanticide, sex-selective abortions and Child Marriage were common issues here. Thankfully these horrible practices have almost ended thanks to the tireless efforts of several activists and the Government.

[@user-cr6qv1bn2u]

Yeahhh. It's only a problem if you report it. I. Doing believe that with the amount of corruption in they country

[@natashawho5508]

Aww... I was about to look up the "extra absorbent toilet paper" until it was mentioned that one of those things isn't real.

[@kobelaleman3063]

The Pizza-rat is called Splinter, John.

[@rafanavega]

cowabunga

[@peregrination3643]

I was thinking, "He has a name!" at that part.

[@ToruKun1]

He's just tryna feed his turtle sons

[@raydelmartinez2905]

LoL good one

[@harshraythattha3886]

#RightsForRodents

[@aeis3007]

Dr. "You're going to have triplets" Chinese government "I think you mean twins"

[@asdkotable]

I know you're just joking around, but twins and triplets were officially considered exceptions, and people usually weren't penalized for them.

[@nabin6976]

Wow such a relief! Absolutely delghted to hear that

[@tokeivo]

Often, a doctor will recommend a "reduction" (that's the word here, dunno if it's the same in English) from triplets to twins, due to health risks. (In any country)

[@gabor6259]

@@tokeivo Reduction? Meaning you have to decide which one to kill?

[@mason3461]

Gábor Králik Yeah

[@thatdumbass8962]

“China’s population is rapidly aging” Covid19- ay China I got you

[@user-vs4ik3ce4s]

see whose population is reducing faster, who is desperately getting rid of the elderly. BTW We are almost done. Good luck to u guys

[@kirion111]

China released Covid on purpose to eliminate all the old people in China lul

[@saleh.hashmi]

surprising thing nobody in big cities got infected... but ppl overseas from Wuhan got?

[@user-vs4ik3ce4s]

@Gacha AndStuff Emm...this is probably more true for Europe than China

[@Gaius__]

Most countries' populations are aging rapidly. Notable exceptions are Africa and the Middle East .....

[@aavvcc]

A more accurate name would be “One Boy Policy”, not “One Child Policy”.

[@fatimahanwaar306]

true

[@ukulelepopstar1019]

I realllyyyyy wish they would have covered adoption because I’m also a direct effect from the Chinese policy. I was adopted in 1995 and my orphanage was only girls. And I know their are a lot of chinese adoption groups over here in the states. Wish he would have covered that too

[@FOLIPE]

I think they wanted to focus on the consequences to China itself. They didn't cover the comparison to other countries' family planning policies or lack thereof, for example, which would've been interesting and put the whole issue in a new wider perspective

[@JingARing]

I totally agree! I’m also a adopted and I find that there’s is a massive gap in literature on Asian Americans as a result of One-Child

[@justicedunham4088]

ukulelepopstar1019 Even the Cleveland Show, spin off of Family Guy, commented on this. Basically stating it was incredibly hard to adopt any race/nationality of child except for Chinese girls. I obviously don’t know the truth of the underlying argument because I haven’t looked into it, but there is a significant number of Americans adopting Chinese girls. I don’t know her birth nationality, but one of my brother’s friends is an Asian girl adopted by a white American family. She’s pretty cool.

[@JingARing]

F. OPE Asian American adopted girls is a direct product of one child because they placed so many abandoned babies (hundreds of thousands) that were adopted out, mostly into the US.

[@TheRoybert]

I thought the same thing and I'm a white male with daughters. The adoption factor is reasonably substantial. I do however know a couple with an adopted chinese boy. I never asked any personal questions, but always have wondered how they got a boy.

[@feixuzou]

Two cents from a one-child policy girl who grew up normally in China: I would like to include in this debate the fact that many other contributing factors that went into making this policy have not been discussed here. One is poverty and the other is low-education levels. I know it's easy to say "no need for such strict implementations, when some condoms and adequate sex ed would do the job." But what must be taken into account is that when that is told to a poorly educated public, they are just simply not gonna listen (or have adequate understanding of why they needed to do that). Plus the welfare system in China was nowhere near as comprehensive as that in developed countries. The truth is that if people carried on having as many children as they were, we would have run out of social resources for them. Not enough schools, not enough houses, not enough food and not enough doctors. Like, literally there was not enough land or farmers to grow that much rice to feed a population that large. I'm not saying this policy is perfect. Because although I was lucky enough to have parents who were university-educated and never thought about abandoning me, I know that's not the case for many many other girls. But perhaps it's just the other side that we'd like to include in any discussion about policy. I'm sure the founding fathers of America never foresaw how much gun-related violence would come out of the 2nd Amendment. Did they have good and rational intentions? Yes. Were the consequences horrifying? Yes. Nothing is ever so cut and dry, and not every answer is "the communist machine is evil". Just my 2 cents!

[@thr433]

I mean you could have lowered the birth rate without having that policy. Every country ever that goes through the economic transition sees a drop in birth rates. Only China had the one child policy.

[@feixuzou]

@@thr433 that's true. But also no two countries have the same situation in terms of political power, military power and economic power etc. If you're really looking for comparisons for China, you should be looking at India (in terms of the number of people). It might be useful to add that at that point, China was eagerly developing its economy after defending invasion from european countries and Japan for about 100 years. Its international political power basically non-existent, and its people still had the painful memories of those invasions, so that was what we were most afraid of - being invaded again and again and be left with broken families and no good prospect for future. Obviously it had its flaws, but it would be oversimplifying to just say "oh we never did that, and we did fine" without considering the historical context.

[@feixuzou]

@@thr433 and also in terms of western contries that see ups and downs in birth rates, those governments definitely encourage having more children because manpower is power. In relation to its land size, no other country has ever faced that big an overpopulation problem as China (and India). So I don't know how useful it is to say "only china had this solution". Just think about how cheap chinese manufacturing is... we are able to do that because China has enough (too many) people to drive down the wages. And this is even WITH one-child policy implemented. Imagine how many chinese people there would be in the world without it..... and the consequences of that.

[@kaiyuzheng7663]

@@thr433 Birth rate typically drop naturally only after economic transition. Considering the geopolitics and economical situation at the time, the quickest option was to artificially drop birth rate to increase per capita resource allocation. Thereby achieving economic transition within one generation. Of course no one can deny there have been some side effects. The severity of the side effects can be discussed. But I don't think anyone can deny that the main goal has been achieved. It is also worth noting that the one child policy was a replacement for a previous population policy of "proud mothers". If as a STEM scientist at the time, the main goal was to achieve economical transition within one generation, I would have proposed similar policy as it would be the most efficient at the time. For the purpose of comparative studies, the only vaguely comparable example in the world would be India since the 2000. I think taken everything into consideration, I would say overall one child policy has been successful. I would also like to point out that almost all foreigners and most Chinese doesn't know how the Chinese government actually works. Any policies that are being rolled out and almost always voted through in the official parliamentary meetings were extensively researched and discussed in the subcommittee meetings stage beforehand. These meetings are behind closed doors and are notoriously heated. Any amendment, alterations, or even outright rejections can only happen at this stage. Content of these meetings are meticulously recorded but are only accessible within the system. It is expected that any disagreement are to be resolved within subcommittee meetings. If very few failed to agree within the meeting, they are expected to abstain the vote and not publicly discuss their objections. That's why everything being voted in the parliamentary meetings shown on TV seems to rubber stamp everything, because all the disagreement should've been settled before then. However, there is a subtle difference between national and provincial levels. In the provincial levels the power balance is often more delicate, so more political work need to be done to convince subcommittee members. At national level, the power balance is more concentrated compare to provincial level, therefore it is easier to go through the subcommittee stages. Despite this, central government's will does not always gets its way. Even during Mao's time, few of his decisions were overturned. But it was very rare, and often led to significant political upheavals few months down the line. Luckily this has not happened yet after Mao's death.

[@Rikard416]

@@thr433 Oh really? Please share that thought with India and Egypt? No, then why don't you fuck off whitey???

[@PurooRoy]

One child policy would have made sense if they decreased the population in order to make everyone live together in one place and turned the remaining area into forest, but this one didn't do either of those. Humans lost, pandas lost, all wild animals lost, bats lost.

[@nicholasfarrell5981]

"The even loneliester number". God, that's the best non-word I've heard in a while.

[@mickymickle2764]

When he said that, I thought did he really just say loneliester??? I also did a "rewind/backup" to ensure my ears didn't deceive me!

[@chrisfrazier1168]

Trump: Covfefe You: Ehh... Trump: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED????!!

[@mickymickle2764]

Yes that was a non-word too, but coming from where it did, there are LOTS of non-words... Also Nicholas did say 'in a while'

[@jiezhangjzmobee8102]

Before the "one child policy" there was actually a “Russian Mother policy” at the beginning of the 50's when China and Russia were still allies. The government wanted all Chinese parents to follow the footsteps of the Russian Mothers that have 7-8 children on average. Mostly because the governement was gearing up for another foreign invasion, which never came. That was the reason for why the population got out of control in the first place.

[@danny90099]

Breeding fast to invading another country. Jezz that right there call Zerg rush

[@bouwonder9223]

The population was big before the USSR you fuck.

[@suja5171]

dyou have a source for this? bc i really would like to know more

[@stonewang7488]

The first peak of childbirth after the founding of PRC came in 1953. Data like birth rate is easy to look up. And Chinese government had some policy to deal with the rapidly growing population. Actually it's a very complicated history...

[@aquaticko]

As everyone else said, and also, when living standards are low and public health is poor, couples have more children in anticipation that some may die. As health improves, more of those children live, and the population increases rapidly. That's the experience of the whole world through the last few centuries; it's called demographic transition.

[@carriesummers538]

John Oliver- you are simply the best. I love your show.

[@MasterArchfiend]

I recall a movie where the guy dated his phone. That is somehow less pathetic than the dolls simply because the phone had an AI that could at least have simple conversations. Now my childhood of not having any friends besides the ones I raised while playing my Pokemon and Digimon games feels slightly less pathetic because I grew to develop the skills to make actual friends.

[@anusuyanallathambi248]

He is smiling but you can feel his rage in the closing argument.

[@naveenarora6467]

That has gotta be an Indian name! Is it?

[@0leander410]

@@naveenarora6467 Since there are so few of you, it's cute to see you excited when you find each other.

[@GenshinLover283]

You gotta love that good old passive aggressiveness 😁

[@neoir8514]

Billy Siravo bit a douche, isn’t he?

[@Xetelian]

I think a lot of episodes are full of rage while he smiles for the jokes and seethes inside.

[@JeanPaulBeaubier]

15:04 "Choosing the right chat up line on the first date..." *shows a line that translates to "Why?"*

[@car0linanne]

Hey, that's a brilliant chat up line! It makes you appear so poetic XD

[@burper-oe6tm]

I agree with John. The whole point of being pro-choice is being able to chose to have an abortion

[@angelabennett8245]

Ten women get abortion's, by choice, and twenty women have babies. Those twenty women have 4 children each, which is 80 kids all together. So why is abortion such a bad thing. The economy is stable. Another example: 80 women have 2 kids each. That's 160 kids. I don't care if religious Republicans think it's a sin. The economy is still stable. Rich people stay rich.

[@niteeshbihade1789]

This just made me value democratic governments even more!

[@niteeshbihade1789]

@@michellecd4722 Thank you Michelle, for your thoughts. We should, indeed be thankful, for being born and raised in good countries. ☺️

[@thehorriblebright]

I read somewhere that having a large population of males with no prospect of getting a partner is a perfect growing ground for extremism.

[@shavingryansprivates4332]

Yeah lol. Most revolutions had excess amount of men.

[@eviehankins8223]

True. An you would think women would be more highly valued considering. Instead they are fixated on how men are the ones suffering while women get treated like baby machines and trafficked in to suit their needs. :( it's not a good situation to say the least, especially in our current political environment globally. There is already a lot of extremism rising up all over the word, so this seems like a powder keg.

[@Froggeh92]

Time for that gay bomb Jack from 30 rock was workin on.

[@aureliomanalo]

Generation Incel

[@jyde50]

china doesn't actually have a female population problem , in a country of 1.4 billion people with 35 million fewer females, that will be about 717million males and 682 million females. not much of a problem.

[@SwimmingInSunlight]

Wait wait wait did he say that sad lady had a forced abortion AT NINE MONTHS?

[@worshipcatalyst1]

It's routine over there.

[@tamarasmith9060]

Yeah, the policy is that if they haven't gone into labor yet then it's not a baby yet, so not murder.

[@prdddac8606]

@@tamarasmith9060 not much different than western abortion policies

[@laurakelly434]

@@prdddac8606 very different than western abortion policies!!!

[@Vrodelena]

@@tamarasmith9060 but it still would be birth, not abortion at that term. Аnd there is a huge chance that the child will come out alive and start breathing on its own, so someone would still have to put it down somehow. I think it is a mistranslation or jut not true. I am pretty sure there would be a lot more outrage if china was oficially smothering newborns.

[@astraldreamhead193]

John Oliver is a better more reliable news source than half the 'serious' news sources around * and hes super funny

[@SteveoMcCartney]

“I could be wrong.”-you are, John. You are.

[@LisaWatsonFilm]

Who's gonna tell John the Diva Cup is real? 😂😂

[@Lectrikfro]

Of course it is real, they had a picture of Mariah Carey holding one. Do you thing they just make up these pictures?

[@NoahNobody]

To those wondering, it's real. It's called a moon cup where I live.

[@SavannahBurris]

I was thinking that, too! I've heard they're nice to wear, actually, but I can't personally imagine doing so.

[@Lectrikfro]

@@swahrosier4179 Yes, that's actually why I mentioned the bit about them not just making up pictures for the show

[@wairimumukuria959]

😂😂😂😂

[@Blueeyesthewarrior]

I’m actually a product of the one-child policy. I was adopted as a baby from China by my American parents.

[@TiaPeachMoose18]

Blueeyesthewarrior me too

[@jerzeygeneral87]

Im living and working in China now and as a foreigner I see the effects of the policy.

[@isamuk855]

I have mixed feelings about the one-child policy. I hope you are doing well in the US.

[@isamuk855]

@@jerzeygeneral87 And I guess you are using VPN to have access to KZbin.

[@nyancat1832]

We're you high quality

[@shellifranklin9722]

I love John Oliver. Cracks me up every time!

[@infinitejest441]

He’s a savage 😂

[@vlogo4371]

Yeah, a socal attitude that allowed femicide is exactly the kind that would allow for trafficking

[@NewMessage]

Somewhere, Elon Musk just looked down at his plate of dino shaped chicken nuggets and furrowed his brow.

[@bibby201]

And then he pointed at some random person on the street and called them a pedophile because why not

[@johnnywins7031]

Then he figured out how to solve global warming, got high, and forgot

[@Psychol-Snooper]

Elon furrowed his musk.

[@charyoshi1]

As did Daniel Avidan

[@erictheepic5019]

@Professor Duck Haha... Oh wait, you're serious? Let me laugh even harder!

[@benhackl6956]

Lesson to learn here: one should be really careful about unintended consequences when trying to engineer society and bend the reality to some ideologically desired outcome.

[@kail9777]

On the other hand, they are the 2nd largest economy and that was totally engineered. They also pulled a couple hundred million people out of poverty too in record time since 1979. Though, I get your point. It has its ups and downs.

[@kail9777]

@MrBigEnchilada I never saw it like that before. This is fascinating - thanks for sharing.

[@TheSpokenWizard]

@@kail9777 China has 3x the population and only managed to become the second largest economy by foreign companies doing their manufacturing in China.

[@kail9777]

@@TheSpokenWizard I would say that's pretty good hands off management by that standard. They also have their own production of course. It isn't entirely just American companies. Keep in mind....they started in 1979 when they officially went full capitalism. Forty years. It's still full of farmers and a struggling country too with poverty to fight. They got a ton of issues and on some fronts are making great progress.

[@CaptainDoomsday]

At least know what the hell you're doing. Like, run some trials in a small area before distributing a policy nationwide. "Oh hey this area's population is a mess maybe test two kids."

[@Gypsy-Tongue]

I always thought Pizza Rat was adorable

[@Jartran72]

When no people where around in the Zoos where pandas live, they actually started having sex. Turns out they are just too stressed and don't wanna be watched when doing it. If we just gave them some enclosed spaces with the silence they deserve they would repopulate just fine Edit: I am talking about the time during the corona lockdown

[@baabaa9000]

I just have a quick request for the Last Week Tonight Channel: Can you guys post your sources in the video description, for further reading?

[@sailaab]

+1 to that

[@noahisham7416]

@@sailaab +2 to that.

[@seopark7467]

+4!

[@khobaibzafar3601]

+5!!!

[@Crystal-pk8tr]

Agreed

[@Lenwang211]

as the one child from the one child policy. I can say this with confidence that Oliver didn't hit it hard enough. The policy had caused so much suffering on the personal level, community and as a country

[@humanbeing5918]

it could be worse if population continued to grow astronomically

[@LookingForAName...]

@@humanbeing5918 Yeah I'd like to see the effects it had on population growth. It's easy to judge and there may have been better ways to control population, but I don't know if the unrestrained growth would have lead to a better situation.

[@Herowebcomics]

@@LookingForAName... A better plan would have been to expand and immigrate to other countries! Then children don't have to die, and adults don't have to be assaulted!

[@DizzyBusy]

@@humanbeing5918 im from a country that in the 80s tried a similar program in a less invasive way, but still quite bad. In some middle-sized villages, soldiers in uniform would stand in a room and watch as women would be fitted with an IUD. That's twisted, isn't it?

[@vikiai4241]

@@humanbeing5918 More-or-less India today. Not a complete mess, but still not pretty. (AFAIK, India has - or had - a two-child policy, but it had no teeth - the only punishment for families was exclusion from ever holding a government-provided job).

[@apratimghosh109]

This is the best show! Funny and informative.

[@hannahchitty351]

“My money’s on diva cup” Lmao….but honestly fair😂

[@ebbyc1817]

"what you fill a cabinet with when you run out of human needs"😄 Brilliant. Just, brilliant.

[@keepdancingmaria]

I completely agree. Good writing, well delivered.

[@shadmanshakib6463]

That magic trick guy now will be like I’m on a John Oliver episode, and use that to woo girls.

[@kl8901]

I double any Chinese girl knows who John Oliver is. You don't even need to look it up to know that he (and his show) is banned in China.

[@colly3333]

Chinese girl: "Who's John Orriver?"

[@RD-eg1df]

I can't know for certain, but I'm pretty sure John Oliver is banned in China after his episode on Xi Jinping

[@robertdullnig3625]

He'll just say, "He's like the guy in the two-child commercial."

[@dustinbennett7869]

Haha I hope you used "woo" as a pun 😄

[@MijmerMopper]

09:10 amazing bit, I especially love that the Diva Cup is really the only one I am certain actually exists due to a friend of mine being very exited about it

[@chizhang2765]

Ok this has been my guilty pleasure let's hope my internet doesn't get cancelled the next month.

[@npcimknot958]

The girl with no status is so heart breaking

[@bassmaster867]

kind of a hopeless life

[@stonewitch12]

That’s not true. They may got delayed to have identity for a few years, but they eventually will get it. Or else they won’t be able to go to school.

[@kirikayumura6015]

@@stonewitch12 that's the problem.. she said she can't go to school, can't get medical care.. and I think can't get a legal job (? I might be reading in that last one). Honestly, I don't understand how she's managing to survive.. where's she getting money for clothes, food, and housing from? Also, if she can't seek any kind of medical care within the country, then she's really living on borrowed time.

[@jsdreyer2031]

@@stonewitch12 She was 26 and still had no identity.

[@devodavis6454]

@@jsdreyer2031 I was about to say the same thing. You're basically just lying to yourself here, Stonewitch.