Posted on 04/24/2009 2:49:35 AM PDT by markomalley
The preference for sons in traditional Chinese families has led to a vast gender disparity in China: A study has found that there are currently 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20. While Chinese officials have acknowledged that the country’s “one-child” policy has led to a gender imbalance, the new study offers the first hard data on the extent of the disparity. The study included nearly five million people under the age of 20 and covered every county in China. It found that overall ratios of boys were high everywhere, but were most striking among the younger age group of 1-4 years, and in rural areas, where it peaked at 126 boys for every 100 girls [The Wall Street Journal blog].
With the greatest imbalance occurring with very young children, the researchers say that China will be grappling with the problem for 20 years. The imbalance is expected to steadily worsen among people of childbearing age over the next two decades and could trigger a slew of social problems…. “If you’ve got highly sexed young men, there is a concern that they will all get together and, with high levels of testosterone, there may be a real risk, that they will go out and commit crimes” [AP], says study coauthor Therese Hesketh. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, attributed the imbalance almost entirely to couples’ decisions 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 [The New York Times]. Although tests to determine the fetus’s gender for non-medical reasons are officially banned, the rule is largely ignored. The Chinese government instituted strict birth control policies in the 1970s to prevent runaway population growth, but the one-child policy clashed with Chinese families’ traditional preference for a male heir. In some provinces, a second child is permitted if the first is a girl or if parents are experiencing “hardship” [AFP]. But among those second births the proportion of boys is even higher than average as families desperately pursue their last chance for a son. Among second births, there are 143 males to 100 female births. |
Yes! Pitchers and Catchers Report To Spring Training!
Chicago Cubs fans, the greatest five words have been yelled out down in Mesa, AZ this morning. “Pitchers and Catchers Report Today” Those five words are a baseball fans favorite phrase. Some players showed up a day early but all will need to be in Mesa today (Friday) and then will take part in their first full workout on Saturday.
Chicago Cubs Blog, 13 Feb, 2009
Or they can take 32,000,000 casualties in a war of conquest without blinking an eye.
Exactly.
Societies where sexually mature males begin to greatly outnumber available females become aggressive and solve their problem of excess males by waging war.
huh?
Birth control always leads to problems...yet everyone pretends their are no bad side effects for society.
DO what communist always do- offer to pay people tohave girls
I’ve heard that this is a big problem with certain segments of the immigrant population within the United States. Particularly amongst the Asian and East Asian populations. This, and all abortions, are an unspeakable crime against humanity.
That was my first thought - 32 million people is quite a sizeable military.
This is never good when you mess with God’s balance. You will see this country crumble very soon.
And those 32,000,000 will probably be able to take a LOT of their opponents with them in a conventional war.
This has never happened before in human history. If China’s economy ever crashes, these rootless men will be sent abroad on missions of conquest, with no hope or care that they ever return to China.
I predict that in 2112, there will be more Chinese than Africans living in Africa. Much of Asia will be fully colonized by Chinese overlords.
Alternatively, it will be a great AIDS epidemic
For East Asians (China, Japan mostly), this was mostly a problem until the Sixties when immigrant men could sponsor their families over to the US. Once families could come to the US together this was not a big problem, although the male to female birth rate in the US among Chinese families was about 3:2. By the Seventies, in some communites of Chinese-Americans (California), it seemed females outnumbered males. When my friends in Connecticut started having children, they wanted one boy and one girl but they ended up having three sons before their one and only daughter.
My friends of Japanese descent report more balanced male-female ratios.
Among South Asians (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan) in the US, it seems they’re wedded to the idea of boys over girls. Keep in mind, dowries are still an economic burden for the parents of girls.
bert,
Did you really have to say that. That was as crass as some of my stuff!
WOOHOO! Spring training.
Oh, wait...
China could take 100,000,000 casualties in a war of conquest without blinking an eye.
méi wèntí = (no problem)
Cannon fodder...
All that’s missing are 32 million rifles and 64 million boots.
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