A Mother's Ordeal: One Woman's Fight Against China's One-Child Policy [Paperback]

Steven W. Mosher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1993

Social scientist and China expert Mosher relates the story of Chi An, a former population-control worker in China, whose own second pregnancy became the catalyst for her fight to stay in the U.S. "A searing and candid look at a place where the state brutally intrudes into the most intimate parts of a woman's life."--Kirkus Reviews.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is the story of the ordeal of Chi An, a Chinese mother, and her fight to escape being a victim of China's family-planning policies of the 1980s. These allowed no more than one child per couple under threat of public criticism, heavy fines or job demotion. Mosher ( Journey to the Forbidden China ) dramatically portrays the hardships imposed by the Cultural Revolution, particularly by government population control. This included mandatory use of IUDs; the presence of community spies; raids during which pregnant women were dragged to clinics for forced abortions (often in the third trimester of pregnancy); and the sterilization of both men and women--procedures at which, as a nurse, Chi An was obliged to assist. Having conceived a second child while traveling in the U.S., Chi An and her husband would have been deported without the author's successful appeal, which helped establish China's one-child policy as ground for political asylum. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

The compelling story of a young Chinese mother, giving a human face to the recent, chilling news accounts of how China has dramatically--and forcibly--decreased its birth rate. Mosher (China Misperceived, 1990, etc.) tells the story of Chi An in the first person, giving his dramatic narrative an even greater edge. Chi An recalls her childhood in the early 50's, when China was still encouraging large families. The second of four children, she grew up in a relative comfort that disappeared when her father drowned and the family had to rely on her mother's earnings. Things were grim as her mother battled depression and as the disastrous effects of Mao's agricultural policies began to be felt even in the cities. A student nurse during the Cultural Revolution, Chi An admits to participating in that horror, but the main focus here is her experience with China's ruthless system of birth control. Trained as an abortionist, she initially accepted governmental limits on pregnancies. She married an engineer, and when a local committee informed her that she was included in the quota of women entitled to become pregnant, she did so and gave birth to a son. But as Chi An continued working in a factory clinic, she was troubled by what she observed: abortion at full- term; infanticide; forced sterilization; imprisonment for those who rejected government regulations. Dismayed, she joined her husband, who was studying in the US, and she became pregnant again--even though, in China, she'd signed an agreement to have only one child. When Chinese authorities refused to let her return unless she had an abortion, Chi An sought American help. After many difficulties- -deportation procedures were in progress--she and her family were granted political asylum. A searing and candid look at a place where the state brutally intrudes into the most intimate parts of a woman's life. (First serial rights to Ladies' Home Journal) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Perennial (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060976144
• ISBN-13: 978-0060976149
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,716,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raises a lot of questions about family planning and choice., March 22, 1998

By 

Cathleen M. Walker "geminiwalker" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mother's Ordeal: One Woman's Fight Against China's One-Child Policy (Hardcover)

"One Mother's Ordeal" is the story of China's "one family, one child" policy and raises a lot of questions about the meaning of pregnancy, parenthood, and reproductive rights. "A Mother's Ordeal" is about a system of family planning that has nothing to do with "choice," and a woman who was not only forced to abide by the "one family, one child" policy but was forced to implement it as well. The incredible stories of abortions at all stages of pregnancy and women bound and gagged, dragged screaming and crying, to clinics where their children, their hearts and souls, are torn from them sheds a whole new light on the issue. The chapter about "The Boy Who Would Not Die" is a turning point for Chi An, and for good reason. In China, housing, food, clothing, education are guaranteed for all, as long as government policy is followed. And freedom of speech? The right to question authority? Citizens are watched and listened to every minute...solicited for their "opinions" and punished for having the wrong ones... Chi An Wei has seen the birth of her first child cause the abortion of a neighbor's, has had to live with a policy that has caused her a great deal of anguish. Now she must reconcile her own pain with the fact that implementing this policy is what she does for a living. It's a horrifying picture, and a warning to those who would for one minute become complacent about whatever it may mean to have "rights" over our own bodies. Have you ever had to do something you found morally repulsive in order to make a living? Chi An Wei's experience is a humbling one...and one I will never forget.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars China's Heartbeat, January 27, 2001

By 

"mariposita" (South Holland, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Mother's Ordeal: One Woman's Fight Against China's One-Child Policy (Paperback)

The story of Chi An's life, from her uncelebrated birth (after all, she was JUST a girl), to her early school days interrupted by the search for steel to feed Mao's plan to make a Great Leap Forward, to her simple meals of tree-leaf pancakes during the days of the Great Famine, to her heart-felt allegiance to and then disillusionment with the Cultural Revolution purge, to her enforcement of and then torture under the family-planning policies, provides a fascinating context in which to study the political heartbeat of a country little understood. This poignant account could cause you to hate China. It may make you weep with compassion, as I did. But finally, it will help you to understand. See China through Chinese eyes.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Things I didn't know, December 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Mother's Ordeal: One Woman's Fight Against China's One-Child Policy (Paperback)

This book was indeed an eye opener for me. I am an adoptive parent in the process of adopting a little girl from China. I have heard and read about other researches as to what is happening inside China. But this is a story told "from the inside". It boggles my mind that a government would do such things to her own people. I was very appalled by the methodology engaged by the government. It makes me feel so lucky to be living here that we have the freedom to make our own choices. It makes me all the more anxious to finish my adoption process. I want my hands on my precious little one and away from such a government. I recommend this book to all those who seek to understand China's One-child policy better.