SAD STATE OF THE ONE CHILD POLICY

We’re in the middle of final examinations for our Oral English students. Each student is given a topic to speak about. Some share experiences that touch my heart. This morning one girl drew the topic “Talk about someone for whom you are grateful and explain why.” She told me the following:

When I was born, I was the second child. My parents already had one girl, and they were very disappointed when I was born and they didn’t get their wished-for son. (Since they were fined and penalized for having a second child) they decided they would abandon me. My grandfather was very vocal about not doing this. He told my parents, “Every life is a treasure.” And so my parents kept me. My grandfather did many things for me. He would fix food and say, “Oh, this tastes horrible. I cannot eat it. You must eat it instead of me.” She realized later that this was his way of giving her their scanty food. He died when she was nine years old and she had a difficult time controlling her emotions this morning as she expressed her love and gratitude for her grandfather who, she feels, saved her life.