0:00:02 > 0:00:03and when the trial will start.
0:00:03 > 0:00:05Now on BBC News, Our World.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08China, the world's most populous nation.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Its leaders imposed a ruthless one-child policy to keep
0:00:12 > 0:00:16the birth rate down.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20But now, after 35 years, it is finally over, and the country
0:00:20 > 0:00:23is hoping for a baby boom.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24Today's mothers have more flexibility to shape
0:00:25 > 0:00:27their own future.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29I am, you know, the only child of my family.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Sometimes I feel a little bit lonely.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34So I think two or three is perfect.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Now, the government must find a way to re-employ the despised population
0:00:37 > 0:00:39police, an 85 million-strong army tasked with enforcing birth
0:00:39 > 0:00:47control and abortions.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55Across China, the enforcers have left their scars.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08So what is the legacy of the one child policy?
0:01:08 > 0:01:10With a rapidly ageing population, how well-equipped is China now
0:01:11 > 0:01:15to face the future?
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It is Tuesday morning in Dapeng county in central China,
0:01:28 > 0:01:35700 miles south-west of Beijing.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Li Bo is on his way to work.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41He belongs to the army of family planning officials stationed
0:01:41 > 0:01:47in every town, city and village in the country.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Their mission has been to drive down the birth rate,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54and to limit most families to just one child.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57At the beginning of 2016, China finally scrapped
0:01:57 > 0:02:03its one-child policy.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Now, Li Bo's role has taken a dramatic turn,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07in a new direction.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08Down here?
0:02:08 > 0:02:13Today he is taking me to check up on a small girl who has been ill.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Liu Siqi is two, and like more than 60 million Chinese children,
0:02:19 > 0:02:26she is being raised by her grandparents.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Her parents are migrant workers, and she only gets to see them
0:02:30 > 0:02:34twice a year.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39Li Bo is a pioneer in a pilot project designed to help rural
0:02:39 > 0:02:43children to get a better start in life.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47Today, the once-feared family planner visits villagers with a sack
0:02:47 > 0:02:51of toys and picture books.
0:03:12 > 0:03:12It is quite interesting.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15He is not just kind of giving her sweets,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18or making silly faces.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20He is actually asking her what colour is that,
0:03:20 > 0:03:21how many are these.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24He is getting her to count, getting her to recognise parts
0:03:24 > 0:03:25of the duck's face.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27It is all quite educational.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Li Bo's new job is to teach parents and grandparents how to relate
0:03:31 > 0:03:35better to small children.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46But I wondered about Mrs Chen's earlier experience of
0:03:46 > 0:03:49the hated population police.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10What about people that were forced to have abortions,
0:04:10 > 0:04:11or were forcibly sterilised?
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Were there any cases of that?
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Extraordinarily, Mrs Chen had two daughters after that,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29but they had to live undercover.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54The one-child policy, introduced in 1979, was designed
0:04:54 > 0:04:56by military scientists to keep the world's largest
0:04:56 > 0:05:03population in check.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07An enormous family planning bureaucracy rolled into action,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10enforcing abortions and sterilisations
0:05:10 > 0:05:15on an unprecedented scale.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18At least 336 million abortions have been carried out under the policy,
0:05:18 > 0:05:28often with coercion and brutality.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Since the start of 2016, all Chinese couples are now allowed
0:05:39 > 0:05:43two children, but no more than that.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46And the enforcers, like Li Bo, still have to ensure that each
0:05:46 > 0:05:52birth is authorised.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Today, he is busy with part of his old job,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03screening local women.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21The woman's medical history is logged in this little red book.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24It lists the children she has, contraception she uses,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27and any terminated pregnancies.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Tell me what these various stamps are in here.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36You've got, like, different signatures, different...
0:06:36 > 0:06:37Lots of pages of them.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41What does it mean?
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Now, you are allowed to have another child, yes?
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Do you want another one?
0:06:52 > 0:06:53What do you think?
0:06:53 > 0:06:59What does your husband say?
0:06:59 > 0:07:00Is that your husband?
0:07:00 > 0:07:03At that moment, her husband shows up.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06This is a bit cheeky, because I haven't met you before,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10but can you just tell me why you don't want to have another baby?
0:07:17 > 0:07:20But later, maybe?
0:07:27 > 0:07:33In China's big cities, the future has already arrived.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36I wonder if young women here in the capital,
0:07:36 > 0:07:41Beijing, feel more confident about having a second child.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44So I have come to meet some expectant mothers.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Antenatal yoga classes are becoming fashionable,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48as affluent women seek more control over their bodies,
0:07:48 > 0:07:58and shun the old one-size-fits-all approach to childbirth.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Can I just ask you, how many of you are thinking
0:08:05 > 0:08:10about having a second child after the first one?
0:08:10 > 0:08:14If my first baby is a girl, I want a second one.
0:08:14 > 0:08:21If the first baby is a boy, I think I can have one baby.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Boys are expensive here, because when they get married,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27they are expected to pay for a new home.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31My first is a boy, and my second is boy again, so I feel a little
0:08:31 > 0:08:34stressed right now.
0:08:34 > 0:08:35This is your first child.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Would you like to have another one?
0:08:38 > 0:08:39Absolutely.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41I am, you know, the only child in my family.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Sometimes I feel a little bit lonely.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48And I don't like, you know, my kids to feel the same.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51So I think, you know, two or three is the perfect.
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Two or three.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Three, for the time being, is not legal.
0:08:54 > 0:09:01Yes, but I think as time changes, a lot of things can change.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Do you think that the policy was necessary in the first place?
0:09:04 > 0:09:06It is a very sensitive topic to discuss in China.
0:09:06 > 0:09:13But, you know, I think at that time point, it is like 20 or 30 years
0:09:13 > 0:09:16before, probably it was kind of a must for us to do that,
0:09:16 > 0:09:25because of a lot of considerations from the government.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29But right now the government sees, you know, the need for us to raise
0:09:29 > 0:09:30the popularity in China.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Raise the population?
0:09:32 > 0:09:39I guess so, yeah.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41China remains the world's most populous nation,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45with nearly 1.4 billion people.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Without coercive birth control, the government claims
0:09:48 > 0:09:51there would have been an extra 400 million citizens,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53putting intolerable pressure on the country's
0:09:53 > 0:09:59environment and resources.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01But the one-child policy has produced negative side-effects,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04like a chronic gender imbalance.
0:10:04 > 0:10:11Many couples choose to abort girls over boys.
0:10:11 > 0:10:17Policymakers in Beijing are increasingly concerned.
0:10:17 > 0:10:24Dr Cai Jaiyun is deputy director of the Family Planning Commission.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54Back in Dapeng county, Li Bo has invited me
0:10:54 > 0:11:01to meet his family, his wife and nine-year-old daughter.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03He is a loyal Communist Party official, and his daughter,
0:11:03 > 0:11:08like her classmates, is a young pioneer.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18I wonder whether Li Bo and his wife wish the law allowing a second child
0:11:18 > 0:11:22would have come earlier.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Now that you and your wife could have another child, is that
0:11:38 > 0:11:40something you would consider?
0:11:50 > 0:11:54His parents had urged him to have another baby while the one-child
0:11:54 > 0:11:58policy was still in force but then they would have had to pay a big
0:11:58 > 0:12:02fine - the so-called Social Maintance Fee.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06How big was the fee?
0:12:06 > 0:12:08What was the normal cost of having a child out of plan?
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Li Bo tells me that his job was to enforce the one-child policy
0:12:27 > 0:12:32by issuing these fines.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Did you sometimes have to persuade them an abortion
0:12:41 > 0:12:43was in their best interest?
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Li Bo is clearly uncomfortable with my questions and I feel
0:13:16 > 0:13:20uncomfortable asking them.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Did it make you feel quite unpopular in this town?
0:14:02 > 0:14:04I have come to Hangzhou, eastern China, to meet the man
0:14:04 > 0:14:10who knows all about conflict with the population police.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Wu Youhui is a lawyer who spent years investigating alleged abuses
0:14:13 > 0:14:21within the family planning system.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24He says he has proof that fines imposed by family planners
0:14:24 > 0:14:28are siphoned off by corrupt officials.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33This receipt shows 10,000 RMB, or around $1600, spent
0:14:33 > 0:14:38on luxury silk quilts.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40What is interesting about this, scrawled in the corner,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43written in black ink, is an authorisation saying
0:14:43 > 0:14:47that the money can be taken out of 35,000 RMB paid into the local
0:14:47 > 0:14:50family planning office, and a previous receipt with matching
0:14:50 > 0:14:53names and dates says 35,000 RMB was raised from so-called social
0:14:53 > 0:15:02maintance fees, which are fines for having illegal children.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04So what does this mean?
0:15:27 > 0:15:31But these fines are not just spent on restaurants and fancy goods.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Mr Wu says some cash-strapped local authorities have come
0:15:34 > 0:15:40to depend on them as a vital source of revenue.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Such was the pressure that officials even roped in criminals
0:16:02 > 0:16:06to help them.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Within China, family planning officials' treatment of those
0:16:27 > 0:16:30who break the rules varies.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34Shangdong, a coastal province with a population of 96 million,
0:16:34 > 0:16:40lies between Beijing and Shanghai, and it has a reputation
0:16:40 > 0:16:42for being especially harsh.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45In recent years, there have been a string of illegal detentions
0:16:45 > 0:16:50here of people accused of having unauthorised children.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54Many are too scared to talk but one family has agreed to tell me
0:16:54 > 0:16:57about their experience.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02We meet in a building belonging to friends.
0:17:02 > 0:17:11They say going to their village would be far too risky.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14We are not naming the family, but some members have decided
0:17:14 > 0:17:15to show their faces.
0:17:25 > 0:17:26Who were these people?
0:17:44 > 0:17:46This is the building the man says he was taken
0:17:46 > 0:17:53to and where he was held captive for nine days.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55His wife was pregnant with an illegal second child,
0:17:55 > 0:18:02so the family hid her until she was six months gone.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05At that point, they believed it would be too late
0:18:05 > 0:18:08to force her to have an abortion.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11They were wrong.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16The woman is still too upset to talk about what happened.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Did you offer to pay the social maintenance fee?
0:18:43 > 0:18:49The wife's sister was also kept prisoner to increase the pressure.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52She was not let out until the family handed over $1500 -
0:18:52 > 0:18:59money to pay for the hotel room where the husband was tortured.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02His parents were made to watch.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28By the ninth day, it had become too much to bear.
0:20:00 > 0:20:01The father accompanied his daughter-in-law to the hospital
0:20:01 > 0:20:05for the abortion.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19Afterwards, the woman's mother-in-law saw the foetus.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Three years have gone by but her grief is still raw.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49The husband tells me his wife cannot forgive them for failing
0:20:49 > 0:20:52to save the baby.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58The one-child policy has caused heartache in millions
0:20:58 > 0:21:07of Chinese families.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Li Bo, the family planning officer, played his part in the system
0:21:10 > 0:21:14but he is not looking back.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19His focus is on the next generation.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24Today, he is visiting this new centre.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27It is part of the pilot project in Shaanxi Province designed to give
0:21:27 > 0:21:33deprived rural children the best start in life.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48How important is what is going on here, your work here,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51for the future of China?
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Perhaps officers like Li Bo did their job too well.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14After the one-child policy, China faces a growing shortage
0:22:14 > 0:22:21of young people and that could threaten its dynamic growth.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Now every individual is needed to meet the challenges ahead.
0:23:04 > 0:23:05Welcome to the weekend.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08That is meant sincerely.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Here is what's in store for Saturday.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Low pressure with weather fronts, meaning even if you start dry
0:23:14 > 0:23:16it won't last.