Most unexpectedly, I took a trip to China this past spring (thanks to a last-minute invite my husband received to join a press junket sponsored by a Chinese organization promoting good business relations with the U.S.) I have always had mixed feelings about the nation of China -- finding its modern political policies deplorable, but recognizing what an amazing cultural history it has. I knew an excursion there would be a challenge, but my personal feelings added to my apprehension.
You see, in January of this year I had discovered the organization All Girls Allowed. As a pro-life feminist I had long known about China's one-child policy, but this new group is revealing just how harmful this abhorrent program is.
Duly reported by Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review, AGA was founded by one of the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Chai Ling. Having been forced to abort twice, Ling is bearing witness to the coercive actions of the Chinese government and the devastating impact it is having in the lives of Chinese women and their families. She and others recently testified before Congress, in hopes that the U.S. administration would decry this wide-spread trampling of human rights.
So I prepared for my trip wanting to bring along this shirt I purchased from AGA to show my solidarity. My husband had already said (only half-jokingly) that there was a 50/50 chance one of us would get kicked out of the country if we expressed our views, so I decided against it.
This shirt says how at least 40 million young women are currently "missing" in China, since that is how many more young men reside there, even though there should be an approximately even ratio of males to females. However, the Chinese government itself says that the one-child policy has limited their population by hundreds of millions.
But I did bring along a picture of all of my children, as did my husband. We both showed the photo to as many people we could -- not to rub their noses in it, but to add to the debate in a small way. We felt our responses to their reactions could spread the notion of just how wrong this policy is.
Very often my husband was congratulated on finally getting a boy. He would say that each of his girls is a treasured gift as well. A couple of women I talked to expressed their desires to have a large family, but then very matter-of-factly stated their government's policy. They seemed so impassionately resigned that I have to admit I was stymied, not knowing what to say...
As I searched in vain for days for any pregnant women, and saw many little boys and fewer girls -- as I observed the majority of parents with only one child in tow, often escorted by grandparents, recalling the "Little Emperor Syndrome" and how it is spreading beyond the borders of China -- I grieved for all the little girls who were deemed "undesirable" and "unworthy" and therefore "disposable."
I met this exuberant young woman in Tiananmen Square. She seemed so excited to meet me... but the honor was all mine.
As I saw the beautiful smiling faces of so many young Chinese women, I wondered if they knew how "lucky" they were. If they feel like a treasured gift, like each of my daughters -- or merely a burden to their families. If they will remain under a regime that someday might rip their own daughters from them. Or if they will rise up to declare and reclaim their dignity and their value to their countrymen.
I returned from my trip with so many amazing memories. And a tenacious resolve to help those smiling faces increase in number, not diminish.
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