Need a husband? Try China...

[trillionaire]

April 11, 2009
New Study Shows Extent of Gender Imbalance in China
By SHARON LAFRANIERE
BEIJING - A bias in favor of male offspring has left China with 32 million more boys under the age of 20 than girls, creating “an imminent generation of excess men,” a study released Friday said.

For the next twenty years, China will have increasingly more men than women of reproductive age, according to the paper published on-line by the British Medical Journal.

“Nothing can be done now to prevent this,” the researchers said.

Chinese government planners have long known that the urge of couples to have sons was skewing the gender balance of the population. But the study by two Chinese university professors and a London researcher provides some of the first hard data on the extent and the factors contributing to the disparity.

In 2005 , they found, China had more than 1.1 million excess male births. There were 120 boys born for every 100 girls. This problem seems to surpass that of any other country, they said — a finding they wrote that was perhaps not surprising in light of China’s one-child policy.

They blamed the imbalance almost entirely upon decisions by couples to abort female fetuses. The trend toward more male than female children intensified steadily after 1986, they said, as ultrasound tests and abortion became more available. “Sex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males,” the paper said.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/world/asia/11china.html?hpw

 

[movie zombie]

great. in the past, and excess of males meant government getting nervous and wanting to keep them busy.......one way to keep them busy was to send them off to war.

mz

 

[purrfectpear]

"under the age of 20"

I guess I''ll have to take two then.

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 4/10/2009 3:59:53 PM
Author: purrfectpear
''under the age of 20''

I guess I''ll have to take two then.

LOL! I guess we can start teaching our kids and grandkids to speak Chinese... Tell Obama to make that a school policy! haha

 

[MonkeyPie]

I knew there was a fishy reason for why all the Chinese guys like to date white women

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 4/10/2009 3:59:53 PM
Author: purrfectpear
''under the age of 20''

I guess I''ll have to take two then.

don''t be shy or bashful.....take 3 or 4!

mz

 

[Dancing Fire]

just in case any of ya ladies decides to go to China and get marry...the going price to do a fake marriage is about $40K

 

[purrfectpear]

Sign me up. An extra $40K is always welcome.

 

[LaraOnline]

If they insist on killing their baby girls, well they''ll have to put up with loads of bachelors as well.
No grandchildren!
Sort of like getting the social circumstances we all deserve... or something like that.
Collective karma.

But then... less men seem interested in marrying than women do... so perhaps in fact the balance is perfect?
Who can tell?!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 4/10/2009 10:58:47 PM
Author: purrfectpear
Sign me up. An extra $40K is always welcome.

but...you''ll have to stay married to him for at least 3 yrs,cuz that''s when he becomes eligible for a green card.so $40k divided into 3 yrs isn''t such a good deal.

 

[purrfectpear]

I''m married now to someone I haven''t set eyes on since 1999. Might as well get paid for it

 

[ksinger]

Date: 4/10/2009 11:44:20 PM
Author: LaraOnline
If they insist on killing their baby girls, well they''ll have to put up with loads of bachelors as well.
No grandchildren!
Sort of like getting the social circumstances we all deserve... or something like that.
Collective karma.

But then... less men seem interested in marrying than women do... so perhaps in fact the balance is perfect?
Who can tell?!

No, sadly, the surrounding countries, and ultimately WE, will be dealing with their excess bachelors. War perhaps? Hormone-saturated 20-something males are not exactly prone to languidly bemoan their fate over tea.

Excerpt from this related article at the NYTimes.


Su Qingcai, a tea farmer from the mountainous coast of Fujian Province, explained why he spent $3,500 last year on a 5-year-old boy. “A girl is just not as good as a son,” said Mr. Su, 38, who has a 14-year-old daughter but whose biological son died at 3 months. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have. If you don’t have a son, you are not as good as other people who have one.”

The centuries-old tradition of cherishing boys — and a custom that dictates that a married woman moves in with her husband’s family — is reinforced by a modern reality: Without a real social safety net in China, many parents fear they will be left to fend for themselves in old age.

 

[LaraOnline]

Date: 4/12/2009 5:14:55 PM
Author: ksinger

No, sadly, the surrounding countries, and ultimately WE, will be dealing with their excess bachelors. War perhaps? Hormone-saturated 20-something males are not exactly prone to languidly bemoan their fate over tea.

yes, you do see that in countries where men can''t get sex easily, they do seem to go off the rails... but they don''t need a one-child or female infanticide custom to do that!!!

Strong power imbalances between men and women seem to stuff up a society pretty well, even if there are plenty of women physically ''on the ground''...

On the flip side, where there is ''enough to go around'' there are costs associated with allowing men easy access without responsibility as well (AIDS epidemic, anyone?)

Nature can be ugly!!!

 

[TravelingGal]

If parents were forward thinking 20 years ago, they would have spent their energy raising a smart, attractive DAUGHTER. Asian women have the pick of the litter these days (I hear it''s the case in Korea).

 

[zhuzhu]

>The centuries-old tradition of cherishing boys — and a custom that dictates that a married woman moves in with her husband’s family — is reinforced by a modern reality: Without a real social safety net in China, many parents fear they will be left to fend for themselves in old age. <

I find this interesting.
How many of us who want to have children do it because they are counting on them as "safety net" in old age?
I think that expectation is not only unrealistic, but rather unfair.

 

[Rhea]

The entire situation is such an interesting experiment in cultural. The cultural needs to change and women become more valued and quickly. I hope there are no wars, but I have to admit I''m curious to see what is going to happen 20 plus years on. There is the gender imbalance and there is also the problem of the aging population and the need to support it.

Date: 4/13/2009 6:07:14 PM
Author: zhuzhu
>

How many of us who want to have children do it because they are counting on them as ''safety net'' in old age?

I think that expectation is not only unrealistic, but rather unfair.

My father often gives this as a reason I should children. I think it''s rather funny considering that he lived across the country as his parents got older.