In response to an invitation from the Chinese government, twenty-three American family planning workers from the fields of medicine, public health, media and administration spent seventeen days during August and September of 1977 in the People's Republic of China studying its birth control, maternity and child care methods and facilities.
This DVD contains two video reports made during this trip: In China Family Planning is No Private Matter (32 min), and Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (22 min).
On this trip, they inquired about the government's methods of surveillance that were instrumental in conducting the declared policy of "one child per family" and observed its consequences in factories and communes. In their effort to comprehend the breadth of the government's health care policies, they recorded the extensive use of herbal therapy and acupuncture. Here is presented their recording of a birth by caesarian section using acupuncture as the sole anesthetic. Shortly afterward they talked with the mother as she celebrated the birth of a healthy son.
The People-to-People China Trip was led by Phyllis Vineyard and Margaret Whitman and was facilitated by Planned Parenthood USA as part of its exploration of the methods and consequences of family planning worldwide.