Leslie Tai’s (2019 Grantee) Creative Capital Project How to Have an American Baby is a kaleidoscopic voyage into the shadow economy that caters to Chinese tourists who travel to the US to give birth in order to obtain citizenship for their babies. Told through a series of intimately observed vignettes, the story of a hidden global economy emerges–depicting the fortunes and tragedies that befall the ordinary people caught in its web.

How to Have an American Baby makes its national broadcast premiere on the award-winning PBS television series POV on Monday, December 11, 2023, at 10:00 p.m. on your local PBS station (check local listings) and streaming for free on pbs.org and the PBS App until March 10, 2024.