![[elder-sister--Film-list-image]](/wp-content/plugins/rai-films/uploads.php?file=uploads/2019/cover/cb97c5f4f0006d8214bd4646d4981266eadc6c35.jpg&w=800&h=auto)
2017 / 96 minutes
- Directed by
- Zheng Long
- Country of production
- China
From the 1970s, the "family planning" policies of the Chinese state limited its citizens to having one child. These policies are well-known. Lesser known are the smaller stories of how families sought to evade these policies, and the lasting impact on the children and parents affected by them. Elder Sister focuses on a spirited young teacher who was given away to a family in a neighbouring village 20 days after her birth. Now a mother herself, and expecting her second child (which has been allowed since 2016), she reflects on her experiences. We also hear stories from her family; no-nonsense mothers, grandmothers and aunts recalling their memories of the adoption with a frankness which is often surprising. With intimate access to the daily lives, memories, and emotions of its female subjects, Elder Sister provides a fascinating insight into attitudes to kinship in China, in the context of a now-historic state policy that still reverberates through families and communities today.
![[elder-sister--Film-list-image]](/wp-content/plugins/rai-films/uploads.php?file=uploads/2019/cover/cb97c5f4f0006d8214bd4646d4981266eadc6c35.jpg&w=1053&h=auto)
- Language and subtitles
- Chinese
- Location(s) depicted
- China