While the African community in Guangzhou has taken to the streets to protest the suspicious death of a foreign national in police custody, the Chinese Internet has proven equally volatile as gruesome photos of a late-stage abortion have circulated online to the shock and horror of many netizens. This week, Sinica turns its attention to both events, but mostly the One-Child Policy, as we discuss first the history of China’s family-planning restrictions and then look at the political forces within China arrayed for and against the status quo.
Trying to steer the discussion through these controversial waters is your host Kaiser Kuo, who is joined in our studio by Alexa Olesen, a long-time China watcher and journalist for the Associated Press who has written extensively on how China’s family planning policies work at the local level. We’re also delighted to be joined by Evan Osnos, staff writer for The New Yorker, who has written about the African community in Guangzhou.