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

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Published 2019-10-06
John Oliver discusses China’s one-child policy, and all its consequences, intended and not.

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All Comments (21)
  • @AccidentalNinja
    "We need a male to continue the family line." Except that male needs a female to continue your family line...
  • @Rungus27
    That woman crying about her 9 month forced abortion was honestly heartbreaking.
  • @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.
  • @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.
  • 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.
  • @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.”
  • @Jacobs9991
    Bless that man for making sex dolls honestly. Who knows how many girls has been saved from human trafficking thanks to him.
  • @linhnguyen6509
    Thanks for mentioning the human trafficking business. That was one of my biggest fears growing up as a girl in Vietnam.
  • @ilovegod0106
    I was adopted because of the one child policy. Living a great life in Canada.
  • @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.
  • @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.
  • 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.
  • @justalilwitchy
    As a child adopted from china because of this policy I'm thrilled to see that John brought this issue up.
  • @bucca2
    My dad had a colleague whose LITERAL LEGAL NAME was “fined 50,000” so. Yeah.
  • @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!
  • @rebeccap274
    The Rat is taking the pizza to his teenage ninja turtle friends
  • @ShootAUT
    "21k Chen" should start rapping. He has already got one hell of a name for it.
  • @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.
  • @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.
  • @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.