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The documentary “One Child Nation” is streaming on Prime Video

Nanfu Wang, a Chinese-born filmmaker, says the Chinese government is ordering a media blackout on her documentary, “One Child Nation,” which exposes the realities of China’s one-child policy. Wang’s film is one of fifteen documentaries shortlisted for the Best Documentary award at the Oscars this year. Wang says newspapers in China heavily cover the Oscars, but there is no mention of her film in Chinese media.

“Most of China’s major entertainment publications thoroughly cover the Oscars each year, so when the Academy announced its 15 shortlisted films for the 2020 Best Documentary Feature award, many Chinese publications covered it. But each paper had a peculiarity in common: they each listed only 14 films,” Wang wrote for a piece in the Daily Beast. “Any person living in China who might be following the Oscars would have no way of knowing that a Chinese film is a contender in this year’s documentary category.”

The Chinese government’s long-standing practices of spying on citizens, crushing dissent, and censoring speech have become a top concern of other nations lately, especially as Chinese-owned tech companies enter the worldwide market.

Wang ended her piece in the Daily Beast by calling on people in Western nations, especially tech companies, to stop cooperating with the Chinese government, even if it hurts their bottom line.

“Chinese people have the particular misfortune of facing punishment for speaking the truth, if they can find it in the first place. On the flip side, I believe people in societies that call themselves free have the particular responsibility of speaking the truth when they find it,” Wang wrote. “China’s foreign minister was right (if not in the way she meant to be right) when she said: “Lies can’t cover the truth, just like dark clouds can’t cover the sun after all.”