Better Ten Graves Than One Extra Birth: China's Systemic Use of Coercion to Meet Population Quotas

by Harry Wu (Preface), Laogai Research Foundation

In Cina non è consentito ai genitori di avere il numero di figli che desiderano. La politica di pianificazione familiare cinese priva i cittadini della più fondamentale delle libertà - la libertà di procreare - e nasconde una "fiera lotta tra la vita e la morte". Le misure punitive previste per i trasgressori sono terribili e costituiscono una feroce violazione dei diritti sterilizzazioni e aborti forzati, pestaggi, distruzione delle abitazioni. Documenti, foto, e soprattutto le testimonianze in prima persona delle vittime e di alcuni funzionari del governo rivelano al mondo una tragedia quotidiana, che, come spesso avviene per le vicende interne alla Cina, è pressoché sconosciuta all'opinione pubblica internazionale. Un libro denuncia, un passo in più nella difesa di un'umanità smarrita, perché "nessuno che rispetti le libertà e i diritti civili può ignorare tali calcolati abusi".

189 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Harry Wu was a Chinese human rights activist. Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, and later became a resident and citizen of the United States. In 1992, he founded the Laogai Research Foundation.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are few physical copies of this book, but it is available for free download at https://laogairesearch.org/publications/ .

Hard to rate this one. The stories were captivating in a horrific way, but the editing makes the book disjointed at times. It was almost like eating over cooked spaghetti with the spiciest of meatballs. I would rate readability of the factual parts of the books at a 2 and the human story part of the book a 5.

Even though this book is in need of an update (there is no longer adoption of healthy children to the US and no longer a one child law), most of the context of the book remains relevant and occasionally more interesting because of its age. One example is the graph that shows a larger and larger portion of the Chinese population growing elderly while a smaller and smaller part of the population is in the work force. In 2003 they had lowballed the percentage of expected population to be over 65 at 11.5% in 2020 when it ended up being 13.5% according to stats.gov.cn.

Overall still a perfectly horrific short read. I seriously hope things have improved for the people of China in regards to population control measures. If late term abortions are a trigger for you, there are very graphic descriptions.

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2020: A book set in a county beginning with “C” (read in 2023)