Obligation & Self: Chinese International Students and the One-Child Policy
by Qihao Wang, MVA 2019
The one-child policy, a birth planning policy introduced in 1982 and intended to control the population growth in China, was officially suspended in December 2015. Within its over thirty years of enforcement, family structures and social structures in China were shaped significantly. With only one child, many families in China do everything in their power to prepare their only child to do well in Chinese society, including sending them to study abroad.
Obligation & Self: Chinese International Students and the One-Child Policy is a documentary about the experiences of several Chinese international students in the U.S. who were born under the one-child policy in China, and the tension between their individuality and their parents' expectations. Following its main characters, this film focuses on their experiences as the only children in their households and examines how they define cultural concepts of obligation and how those obligations influence their life choices.
Running time: 25 minutes