Coming soon: Life After Loss

China's family-planning policy was implemented in 1979. It restricts urban couples from having more than one child. Through 2011, It had so far prevented more than 400 million births. Now, thirty years since it took effect, parents who have lost their only children to illness or an accident are physically too old to have another. These old people have to spend the rest of their lives without children. In China, families who have lost their only child are often called shidu families.

There are more than 1 million shidu families in China, and the number grows by about 76,000 each year. These parents are becoming a disadvantaged and isolated group in society. This video project will discuss the problems they face, including financial difficulty, health care, psychological problems, pension issues and policy struggles. These parents talk candidly with our cameras about their personal stories and the efforts they have made to change their lives.

Life After Loss: When Families Lose Their Only Child, coming soon on China Daily video.

Story / Video: Sun Peng

Camera assistant: Sun Tianyuan & Niu Xiaoqin

Editing assistant: Cui Lingyu & Niu Xiaoqin

Translation: Xing Tingting & Chris Clark

Producer: Flora Yue