The harrowing true story behind China’s power of one

NON-FICTION; One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment; By Mei Fong; Oneworld Publications, €17.25

China’s controversial one-child policy has now been curtailed, but its social cost is almost unquantifiablePicture: Getty

On the first day of 2016, the world’s most radical experiment in social engineering came to an end when China relaxed its one-child policy. Introduced in 1980 to raise 300 million Chinese out of poverty, the system was reversed due to anxiety about economic growth and the pressures of an ageing national demographic.

But as Mei Fong’s stark and prescient One Child exposes, this hugely controversial programme was not only unnecessary but unleashed ...