In 2007, HBO released China’s Stolen Children, an 88-minute documentary by first-time director Jezza Neumann. While working with producers on The Dying Rooms, a 1995 documentary about orphanages in China where girls were being left to die, Neumann discovered a horrifying secret: thousands of children, mostly boys, are being abducted as a result of the One Child policy. With the directors of The Dying Rooms already being banned from China, Neumann had to proceed cautiously with the filming of this documentary. He had to hire a team of experts who had no affiliation with the television industry in order to work in China and investigate the business that is child trafficking. Switching hotel rooms every few nights and posing as tourists, Neumann and his crew had to work underground to obtain the footage they needed to create this powerful and painful film.
Neumann’s first shot as director proved to be well-respected by critics. Juli Weiner of The Huffington Post stated that “the film expertly illustrates that human trafficking and cultural by-products is a pan-generational problem” and considered it “a masterful exercise in guerrilla film-making.” Neumann’s intensive and extensive interviews are what make it unique and touching. He talks to everyone from parents of a kidnapped boy and the detective who is helping them find their son who has been missing for seven months, to a young woman choosing to sell her newborn to pay a fine for being unwed. These interviews are often hard to watch and Ian Burrell of The Independent appears to agree: “The remarkable thing about the film is the testimony of the interviewees.”
The goals of this documentary are clear, at least to someone like me who is passionate about human rights and disgusted by the blatant disregard for them. Neumann, who most definitely took on the role of “advocate”, strived to shed light on this catastrophe that has left over 70,000 children stolen from their families. Neumann interviews as many people from as many different angles in order to show how monstrous and multi-faceted this problem really is. The One Child policy is not simple and is not a solution but instead has become a catalyst for problems such as stolen children, high abortion rates, and a huge gap between single men and women. Forty million girls have been aborted, leaving 40 million young men without potential wives. There is also an overflow of baby girls at orphanages, which are extremely under-staffed and ill-equipped as seen in The Dying Rooms.
Another massive problem as documented in Neumann’s film is the mindset of the agents who sell children. One trafficker allowed Neumann to follow him because he believes he is doing nothing wrong. As he stated, “I think there must be something wrong with treating children as goods, but I can’t figure out what it is.” There is money to be made in the business of trafficking and the policy that created it seems to be just too powerful for families to succeed in finding their children. In the province of Kunming, where many children are stolen, only one in 20 have been found.
With no end in sight for the One Child policy, the effects will be seen for generations. Gender inequalities remain to exist amongst the people of China and the profits made from trafficking are too enticing for agents to stop participating in the business. Neumann’s goal was to raise awareness about this growing issue and to gain some sort of support and possibly justice: “My hope is that if China’s Stolen Children can help even one child, one family somewhere then it’s been worth it.” Neumann’s use of interviews accomplishes more than providing statistics for the viewer- it tugs at your heart and drains your eyes as you hear the painful stories of those affected by this disturbing phenomenon. You do not have to be a film expert to appreciate this film or be hit with emotion- you just have to have a heart and a little compassion for the human life.
