Women Leaders
Avsnitt

China’s Children Separated with Barbara Demick

Women Leaders
Dela

The summer season of women authors is truly global, taking us this time to China.


The superpower image it now exudes overshadows realities in the near past, when poverty was rife and beyond the big cities hundreds of millions were in poverty and often illiterate. The outside world had little knowledge of this, and in the 1990s and early 2000s China was considered a safe source of babies for adoption while also doing a good deed. Tens of thousands of babies, mostly girls, were adopted by Western families, all assured these were abandoned due to the infamous “one child policy”. But reality turned out differently.


Barbara Demick, award-winning journalist and author, penned the incredible Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: China’s Stolen Children and the Story of Separated Twins. An author of a number of previous celebrated volumes on North Korea, Tibet and Bosnia, she brings vast experience as an observer of humanity to her reporting and writing.

In a fascinating conversation, we explore how her books were written, how she became involved with the story of the twins, and why China was and remains such a complex subject.


This episode was recorded on 21 July 2026


Chapters


  • Reporting in conflict zones and repressive regimes
  • The story behind 'Daughters of the Bamboo Grove'
  • Changes in rural China over the past 15 years
  • The evolution of China's laws and society
  • Barbara’s research and writing process


Mentions



Follow



Credits


Contribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️

Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast

Watch now our episode on Youtube

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rss Apple Podcaster
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör Women Leaders - European Leadership Network. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Women Leaders - European Leadership Network och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.