National Geographic Ultimate Explorer host Lisa Ling travels to China to join American families as they greet their new Chinese daughters and examines the complex issues surrounding the country's one-child policy. In the film, Ling examines the consequences of China's two-decade-old, one-child policy, as it is commonly called. To curb the country's exploding population, China limits most families to one child, or in certain circumstances, two children. Due to cultural, social and economic factors, traditional preference leans toward boys, so girls are often hidden, aborted, or abandoned. As a result, tens of thousands of girls end up in orphanages across China. Today, more than one quarter of all babies adopted from abroad by American families come from China—and nearly all are girls. Ling joins some of these families as they travel to China to meet their new daughters for the first time. Along this emotional journey, she shares in the joy of these growing families and also witnesses firsthand China's gender gap, its roots, and its possible repercussions. Village elders express their preference for boys, and women describe the pressures leading to the abandonment of girls. One woman confides the immense pressure her husband put on her to have a son and tells of the fine she paid to keep her daughter. She also confesses how another family member came to the agonizing decision to abandon her own daughter.
Region 1 DVD, NTSC (US and Canada Only)
