China's Lost Girls

You know what struck me about the little girls who were interviewed in this National Geographic Explorer episode? They were so...poised. I'm not even sure if that's the right word for it. There was just this maturity and almost a hidden sadness about them --- a dignity that's missing from most children. They were so self-possessed in the way they calmly discussed their feelings about being abandonned and then adopted.

Lisa Ling discussed the growing gender imbalance in China and how kidnappings and forced marriages and violence against women were real fears for the future when this generation of children became adults and were of marriage-able age. It was already starting now and she even interviewed this woman who'd been kidnapped and sold for the equivalent of less than $450 US to a violent, sick, older man who repeatedly raped her and who, when she was rescued, was forced to leave behind her son.

Watching this episode made my eyes sting with tears.

There was one woman who spoke of how her husband threatened to throw her out onto the streets if she didn't give birth to a son. Later, she had a daughter and she paid thousands of dollars in fines in order to keep her.

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Sitting on the book shelf right now: