China’s bride shortage will be widely apparent in the year 2020. This is when approximately 24 million Chinese males will discover that they are without an available Chinese female to marry. The skewed birth rate has favored males over females for nearly 3 decades, stemming mainly from China’s adoption of the 1 child only policy that was designed to help hold the country’s burgeoning population in check.
For years Chinese women who were pregnant for the first time would have the option of aborting a female fetus prior to full term. Some Chinese mothers would have several abortions of females before they finally gave birth to their “1 child” who happened to be a boy. Others were forced to abort children because they had already reached their 1 child limit and there were reports that in some remote villages infant girls were even abandoned and left to perish. The results of these “specific gender” abortions are being blamed largely on the government. Still it was the decision of many first time parents to abort female babies so that they would have another chance to try for a son.
The options for the new generation of “bride-less” Chinese men are fairly limiting. If there are no available women in their age group to marry then the men will be forced to choose women who are far older than they are and some may attempt to marry young girls who are far younger
China is getting what they deserve. I understand the policy of wanting to control population but the notion that males are better than females is antiquated and silly in a modern world.
It was done to control the population, they chose to abort girls, because girls will grow up and get pregnant……not that they favored men….so in theory it was not silly, open up yopur mind before you make “silly” comments.
The reason the Chinese choose to abort girls is because in the Chinese culture, the male boy is responsible to take care of the parents when they become old. Parents are so used to this practice, that when the 1 child rule came, they all tried to get a boy to secure their future. Very sad.
Sorry Johnny, that is largely incorrect–Jennifer is correct. Yes, women grow up to potentially give birth, but that is not an issue in a country that has a 1 child limit. Whether you can have 12 doesn’t matter, you’re only allowed 1.
Boys are favored because the economy is largely agricultural, and a boy is considered more useful in that their labor is more useful to the family.
In Chinese culture, sons are more valued than daughters, Johnny. Besides- it takes both a male and a female to make a baby.
Do a little more research and you will find that CULTURE dictates that the male takes care of the parents when they are old, no the female. Men make more in the job industry, and so on. The information is out there and 15 years ago many warned that this would happen, but culture is culture and unfortunately not many can change that.
Johnny
Talk about “silly” comments, tthe Chinese have had a gender bias tward sons for 3000 years. If you are unaware of that, you haven’t studied your history.
yup, they “git” pregnant by themselves. ha,ha,ha!!
Actually your wrong Johnny. Being a Chinese male, a male child is preferred because when they marry, the male childred tend to stay with their parents while the females move in with her husbands family. Males are generally preferred because it is believed that they can help provide for the family.
obviously,Johnny, your a male. If they were aborting males, Im sure then youd be saying something different. It doesnt matter if its for population control or not, its wrong. These little girls are left to die as new borns on the street, left to be eaten by wild animals or starve to death. no gender is greater over another. regardless of their cultural reasons, its still not right. so the “silly” comments, as you put it, have a point. Maybe one that you should take into consideration before opening up your cocky mouth.
It is really easy for all of us to make comments, especially since we don’t live in China. I was going to be on of those people and then I read all the comments posted. We should all be greatfull we live in a free country!
How about we bomb china, reduce the male population and start over??? And if you think thats too harsh, China has done nothing about female babies laying in the streets and in dumpters left to die for generations. I agree, they are getting what they deserve
It’s not a matter of men being better than women it’s the simple fact if there’s less women there there will be less babies born in China.
that is ridiculous. even if many chinese mothers were to favor boys over girls, there still wouldn’t be a BRIDE shortage. that would mean a significant amount of male domination, such as 70%male 30%female. that is not likely to happen in ten years. definitely not
10 years? The favoring of male children over female has been going on for generations. However, for 30 years it is the one child policy and the availability of gender specific abortion that has brought this issue to a head. Maybe next time you should read the article before you post a comment. Besides, I can’t think of a better way to control population than to lower the ratio of females to males. Still, there is nothing worse than an itch you can’t scratch. A sexually frustrated population is a dangerous population. Look for prostitution and porn to boom in China in coming years.
You don’t understand the culture. If you don’t comply you risk loosing everything including your life. So imagine growing up what your classrooms looked like. If every child in the area attended school and there were over 50 students in that class yet the ratio of boys to girls was 40 to 10 and the same could be said for the five classes above and below yours. Can you now see how that would be a problem unless China is going to adopt a wife having several husbands at a time which would never happen in society.
Where have you been for the last 20-30 years? They’ve been talking about this in the media for at least 20 years. I’ve been telling my friends for years that someday the Chinese would wake up and discover that having a son to carry on the family name and line won’t matter if he doesn’t have a wife to have the son with. Duh! Now maybe all the Chinese baby girls that have been adopted by parents here in the US will have the last laugh.
There was always a flaw in the ‘one child’ plan due to the culture where only the males could have the opportunity and means to support the parents in their old age. That could have been offset if the government support several cultural changes. But the most fundamental change would be for that government to support the most basic and fundamental right of all people, male and females to be an individual deserving of rights. But that’s where the flaw lies—that government doesn’t promote that; they view all people as servants of the state. And to the person who said these people are getting the government they deserve, I take it you missed the government’s reaction to the last public demonstration in Tinnamon (spelling?) Square….
I think the whole process is disgusting. The women should not be able to keep aborting babies until they get what they want. If you are lucky enough to get pregnant then you should keep your baby regardless of gender or don’t get pregnant. Again this whole thing makes me ill.
I applaud the Chinese for taking the appropriate steps to curb their population; However the bride shortage was very predictable. The smartest parents chose to have the girl as their only child, and in turn their daughter would have the pick of the litter!
Well duh…….. Thats what people been trying to say to the Chinese Government for years. This is the price you have to pay by let your government have complete control
It’s not the government’s fault. It’s the people’s fault. If you value boys and devalue girls, you’re going to have more elective terminations of female pregnancies than of male ones. No government policy ever mandated that, and changing the government policy won’t change the fact. Actually, the Chinese government has tried to advocate the idea that “girls are okay too” but people are slow to change. Are there any gender specific abortions in the U.S. by the way? Even without any government policy, the clear answer is yes.
Amen- Dee you said it!! Totally agree 100%
We live in a wonderful country let’s not let the government here have that control over all of us!!!
It’s unfortunate. With this information at hand, the rule should be reversed to allow for the birth of females.
Well guess they found out the hard way that after 30 years of getting rid of the female gender………they might run out of females? If they would have put that in their computers 30 years ago they would have found that out….DUH
Amazing, how we think we can control everything. Poor baby girls, it’s just going to get worse for them, especially regarding that last part of the email. It makes me shutter. But turning the tables to abort baby boys to even it out is definitley not going to solve anything. One is not better than the other.
I think china should keep their one child rule, but I think it should be changed to a one pregnancy rule. You have one chance to have a child and what you get, is what you get. If by some chance you lose your child or it doesn’t work out, then it is unfortunate but a chance that every pregnant mother takes. I think this would help their female shortage and their population control issue as well.
There was a documentary on HBO that showed chinese teen girls being kidnapped and forced into marriage. The documentary showed that sometimes Vietnamese women are bought or kidnapped. Sometimes little girls are “adopted” as young children so that their sons can marry them when they grow up. In addition chinese little boys are often kidnapped. The whole thing is a horrifying example of God-less government.
No one should have a say over a woman’s reproduction but herself, her partner, and God!
DUH!!!!!!!! so much for communism
Try crunching the numbers for South Korea! My suspicion is that relative to the size of the country, South Korea will have a much bigger shortage of females, not because of a government policy, but because boys are more highly valued than girls. The government is neither the problem nor the solution. It all depends on the values of the people.
Only women would think that men and women are equal. However, it is still wrong what they are doing. At a minimun they should be allowed two children and after one abort you are not allowed another except for health reasons. But lets be real it is better in the long run to have a Male who is in most cases better suited to take care of the family later on in life.
Tee Toe are you serious. Only ignorant people thing that men are best suited to take care of the family later on in life. It is continuously proven that women live longer then men in a majority of societies, so truly the ones that take care of the family. This is particularly the case in highly impoverished countries. Yes in many of these countries the men have been thought to be the best for “future provider”, however they have not progressed with a majority of the global world and realized that women are as good if not better at many things than men. Look at women in the US, many are the bread winners in their families, still are responsible for running the household, and still outlive their male partners.
I agree, Seriously, tee toe, apparently has gender issues, most likely cannot & does not have any success with women, but women(traditionally) run the household & men(traditionally) are there for financial, protective & disciplinary aspects of it………
You obviously haven’t done much “taking care” of older people, b/c you would know that men are too lazy and too ill equiped to “take care” of aging parents. Unless of course their plan is to just hold down a job and stick their parents in a nursing home.
That was a MOST IGNORANT statement, I know plenty of men that hold it down on thier own, Myself included…3 children and an aging father….so please let’s stop with the stereo-typical statments…….
why not up it to 2 children?
I have thought of this subject many times since I married a Chinese woman 5 years ago. China on my mind type thing. I believe the problem is much worse than the writer states. The Chinese, from a historical perspective, have killed each for the most part. Unlike America where we go and kill another group of people. My concern is these men not having available mates could get violent towards each other. Testosterone has a way of doing that.
I cannot believe ANYONE would say this isn’t the fault of the Chinese government and their evil totalitarian policies. They knew their own culture and they could have predicted what would obviously happen. Isn’t it interesting that in the free world, people have voluntarily reduced their population without government coercion.
Just imagine the wealthy Chinese people in the year 2030 (and there will be plenty). The men and their families will be scouting the world for brides. The US will be prime with all the American adopted baby Chinese girls coming of age. It will be so very interesting to observe. Too bad most of us won’t be able to see it. Imagine those poor guys dealing with liberated American women – it won’t take many of these free thinking women to really change China! I have learned to never under-estimate the power of women!
Not really, they won’t come here for their brides, but other asian countries “yes”…..We american men have it hard enought trying to deal with “our” american women…can you imagine a closed minded society of men trying it….lol
The problem is understated. Nature already produces 6% more male children, women live significantly longer which creates an imbalance in older age groups. There are too many younger men and too many older women. Even in the US there are 12 million surplus young men (you never hear about that), in China (include India also, which also practices female abortion) the surplus “young” men could number a hundred million or more, NOT a mere 23 million. With China and India’s combined population of over 2 billion and their new economic “prosperity” expect many men to search overseas for wives, perhaps here in the US we should deny immigration to any single men from countries that practice gender based abortion.
True, but unfortunately the young men in this country have a higher death-toll, especially in the minority group(hispanics & blacks), so in the end it also leads to why their are more older women than men in the U.S.
I wrote a paper about this back in 2005 and even then it was very apparent that there was and is a huge problem. All over China there are ‘Bachelor Villages’.
Some people are saying it’s not the government’s fault but the people, and that’s right and wrong. It’s a societal problem which is government and the people. Males have always in most cultures been the prized result. Males can earn more money and take care of their parents in their old age, and there’s many other reasons.
I do like the suggestion that it should have been a one pregnancy law, but that could be difficult to regulate.
The government is trying and making an effort to promote female children. But it’s a bit too late for the millions of males who have no hope for a future. They have no hope for a wife or a family, it’s very sad. And it all just goes to show what happens when we try to negate natural laws.
As a side note anthropologically speaking when a society finds itself in this position, when males outweigh femals by a percentage (and this can happen naturally, unfortunately) that society inevitibly goes to war. And if as someone stated that Korea is finding itself in the same position, well . . . who knows.
The bad thing is what to do with that many unoccupied males? Well lets use them as cannon fodder and take over another country.
But what right do we as Amercians have to gloat? If given the choice in this country where the birth rate is down women would opt to have a single male child as well to please there mate. Thankfully we are permitted to have more than one if we wish and some of us want girls that’s why we adopt so many of those unwanted girl babies from China. maybe China should keep their female babies and raise them to be healthy capable breeding stock since that’s what they are considered to be anyway.
Typical Americans , judging other cultures and being critical . This is none of our business, let’s just keep giving jr. his new honda when he turns 16 , sending him to countries we have no right to be in when he is 18 and bitching when the cable goes out . Thats what makes us the super power we are ! Entitled , shocked when things don’t go our way , and ingnorant to the rest of the world.
Interesting how similar this is to King Harod killing baby boys that were two and under. How horribly, horribly sad. I pray that these endangered little baby girls and the little ones that have already parished have the opportunity to be held in our Saviours precious arms. Those of us who have little lovely baby girls, cherish them every minute of their fragile little lives.
Sincere Blessings to all-
Rev. Fabela
This sounds a bit extreme that they will have “shortage of brides”, and yet the Chinese population is growing and growing. Thus, this might be somewhat possible. That is discussing, but abortion in general, and you have consequences believe it or not for what you do.
I just don’t see why everyone should get married. That is my view of marriage, but okay.
The boy girl thing is obviously outdated, but people still persist on seeing things like that; it’s part of the historical background, but people need to wake up and think logically about the actual differences between men and women. It is old news that men run the family, but I do agree that you need both parents to be part of the runnning. Women just need a few years to be with their kids while they are born, but later who says who is better at running the family.
I do think the government is to blame. People are people but the government is there to correct things, and in my view it should be a example of good ethical practices (ha where is that?; and so if they really wanted to, they would not let people kill their unborn.
I think people need to start figuring out how to not get pregnant if they don’t want kids. Is it that hard, instead of doing something that will mess things up in the future?
It might be outdated in the US, but there are tens of millions of chinese villagers who are substanance farmers because the government does not have a “hand out” line like they do here. Unfortunately, it is logical to have male children in a place where they need extra farm hands. Science points to the inequality of women purely on a base level. They are usually smaller, weaker, and their bones and muscles develop at a much faster rate than males which will often cause more injuries if subjected to hard physical labor.
chinese folk living in rural areas are not bound by the one child law. farming families have multiple children.
sorry, a little off on that. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy#Current_status : “The limit has been strongly enforced in urban areas, but the actual implementation varies from location to location.[9] In most rural areas, families are allowed to apply to have a second child if the first is a girl,[10] or has a physical disability, mental illness or mental retardation.[11] Second children are subject to birth spacing (usually 3 or 4 years). Additional children will result in large fines: families violating the policy are required to pay monetary penalties and might be denied bonuses at their workplace. Children born in overseas countries are not counted under the policy if they do not obtain Chinese citizenship. Chinese citizens returning from abroad can have a second child.[12]“
The men I know do nothing but complain about the women in their lives, such as “my wife is an idiot,” “my girlfriend is a slob,” and “my other girlfriend is no good in bed,” and “my wife is ugly,” and on and on… so maybe the Chinese are on to something — men are happier without women around ! These men who complain about their wives & girlfriends can all just go to China which in a decade or so will be completely empty of females — they will achieve the perfect happiness in a world without women. They can sit and eat cold leftover pizza and watch games on TV and drink beer and burp and they will never need to take a bath ever again. “Urrrp!”
Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl, Will you marry me. The girl said no, and the guy lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and went fishing and hunting and played golf a lot and drank beer and scotch, and left the toilet seat up, and farted whenever he wanted.
The End.
Well if there aren’t enough women there, then the 100 million man army will probably want to declare war on somebody and take their women. I guess the first thing they will say when they get here is,??????, or in English, Where The White Women At.
This is a result of a centuries-old culture that strongly values men, and devalues women. And a shortage of marriageable women does lend to increased violence. Look at the middle east with the same cultural bent. A shortage of marriageable women in those countries over many years is one factor that contributes to the single men being more amenable to violence.
The Chinese population is also aging due to this. Therefore, they will not be as significant an economic force in 20 years’ time. The first question history always asks is :knock, knock, who’s there?”
Data is on the CIA factbook page.
Taking HISTORY as a guide to how MEN operate within ANY racial, social, cultural or religious group – anywhere in the world, there is a more OMINOUS THREAT looming on the horizon: KIDNAP/RAPE; FORCED-MARRIAGE/RAPE.
I read an article on this subject a while ago, where those sickening “male-hobbies” were the norm in such STUDPIDLY SINCE DELIBERATELY FEMALE-SQUANDERED SOCIETIES.
So, it is not so much a matter of the rest of the world musing curiously over this “anomaly,” but for this same rest-of-the-world to become more PROACTIVE IN SHOWING SOLIDARITY for countries – like THE SELECTIVELY CAVEMAN-ESQUE CHINA, who obdurately maintain their appallingly SUB-HUMAN HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD, and STILL want to trade/socialise upon a World stage where the rest of us ESCHEW SUB-HUMAN WAYS OF LIVING.
Once upon a time, this guy asked this girl, Will you marry me? The girl then remembered all the mean put downs and insults the guy said to her over time because he thought it was funny to say mean hurtful things to her, and she remembered all the mean names he called her to her face, and remembered all the arguments he started for the fun of seeing her get all upset… so the girl said no, and then the girl finished college and lived happily ever after and she inherited money and has a career and can support herself and never really needed him anyway…
For the REAL and FULL HORROR of the INEVITABLE FALLOUT FROM THIS – CRIMINAL,SICK AND SHORT-SIGHTED PRACTICE OF FEMALE INFANTICIDE IN CHINA…Read this website article:
http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/puaf610/notes/04-Probability_distributions/WP-01-05-29-China-boy-girl-ratio.htm
[BRIEF QUOTE] “…Last year, 20 children were born to the women of Xicun. Sixteen were boys. The year before, 24 were born and 19 were boys. There is a reason for the preponderance of males: In 1999, the medical center that serves Xicun bought a cheap, Chinese-made ultrasound machine that allowed doctors to determine the sex of a fetus. Sex-selective abortions followed. And now the town, like hundreds of others in China, is facing a boom in boys. ..”[UN-QUOTE].
and [QUOTE} “…Researchers predict the social consequences could be disastrous. Already, “bachelor villages,” inhabited predominantly by men, dot parts of China’s poorer regions, in northern Shaanxi province, and in Ningxia and Guangxi provinces. Chinese police researchers say crime has grown among the millions of men of marrying age who cannot find a bride. A trade in kidnapped women is booming: 110,000 were freed during a crackdown last year. Chinese gangs also traffic in Vietnamese and North Korean women for would-be Chinese husbands. ..” [UN-QUOTE}
Sadly, many people are missing some major points—China and other cultures have been around for a long time; what the West thinks of their practices doesn’t count, matter, or will influence them. The practice putting male over female children in value is practiced not only in China, but across many Asian cultures.
The larger issue, however, is what will happen when this ‘shortage’ of females actually happens. With so many excess males, the government of China (and there is no reason to think it will change substantially by 2020)will be faced with this largly social issue and pent up frustration of its people, especially the males, and try to divert and relieve this frustration by the old tried and true method—go conquer something.
China’s resources might be vast if they are developed, but oilfields and mineral resources in the prior USSR states (and significant presence of China ifor contracts in Afganistan now) will be in demand on a worldwide level. Taiwan is still considered a Chinese Province. North Korea is out of control and might need a little ‘guidance’ to be reduced as a worldwide threat. Vietnam and China have never gotten along. All of these areas, plus a number more, could be made into excuses to demonstrate the Chinese military might that has been steadily growing, place large bodies of soldiers into ‘liberated’ countries to disperse internal pressures and not be too concerned with any number of casualties that would reduce the male proportion. China does not want to fall from within–it would rather risk confrontation with external forces to further solidify its internal standing with its people. Mark my words, it has 10 years to prepare—look for the signs
The issue is not whether or not males are better than females or females are less desirable than males.
The issue at heart is CULTURE.
Girl children grow up, marry, and live in their husband’s household.
Boy children grow up, marry, and bring the girl to live with their parents.
Male children are desired because they (ajd their new wives) stay with their parents and help take care of them in their old age.
Looks like there will be a lot of men turning gay in China!
“It was done to control the population, they chose to abort girls, because girls will grow up and get pregnant……not that they favored men….so in theory it was not silly, open up yopur mind before you make “silly” comments.”
Men are capable of impregnating a lot more women than women are capable of getting pregnant within their lifetime. Silly comment…right.
As if women are just capable of getting pregnant on their own. Controlling the population could still be accomplished by having a majority of female children and a lack of male children.
This is awful. There WILL be children now forced to marry before they should.
Is it just me, or do some of the responses reflect a desensitization towards MASS MURDER of children? I don’t care if it’s China or downtown LA, I am horrified at the thought of those precious children aborted or abandoned (whether girl or boy).
abortion is not mass murder in the west. abandoned children, as sad as it may be, only get 30 seconds on the local news. so of course there’s desensitization. that surprises you?
Katie M — of course no one cares about the “mass murder” — it’s baby girls we are talking about. If it were baby boys, people would feel concerned, wouldn’t they? Of course personally, I feel awful about it. But I face facts — no one really cares about it because it’s baby girls… sad, but true.
I’m 42 and this “gotta have a son” mentality has been going on for decades. We were only kids when we first heard about it but always wondered who all these boys were going to marry. I guess I’ll hope for their sake that some of them are gay, because they may need to marry each other. This will get interesting!
Is it just me or is there a running theme on this comment page? Culture and gender value system aside has anyone thought about the civil unrest this is going to cause in that country? Studies have shown that young to middle aged men who have a family to care for are far less likely to go out and drink heavily, get into fights, steal, and commit all sorts of crimes because they have responcibilities. With no family or wife to take into account these young men are going to have nothing to lose if they decided to do something illegal or stupid. I predict some skyrocketing crime rates in China for a while.
it is upseting to hear about selective abortions and abandonments.but this development will definitely shrink the population,and these men may end up childless-with no one to “take care of them”.it may be just the situation needed to force this culture to rethink it`s values. we`ll see.
No matter how you look at this it is considered murder . Those that are responsible for this sick type of thinking and those that partake of it will some day have to face judgement for their actions . God bless those that refuse to partake of those sick laws that take us further away from living morally in the eyes of Jesus .
The crazy thing is that they are still doing it! I married a Chinese girl, she wants a boy and thinks boys are better some how, and I want a girl. But I’ll not tell her to go through abortion for gender, that’s just so wrong! The government changed the rule to 2 kids now, I bet they’ll still kill off the girls. It’s just culture, 5000 years of this, and they’ll never change.
the problem is actually worse than the numbers suggest… according to my beijing tour guide, many of the otherwise marriageable females – especially those with higher education and those who live in large cities – refuse to marry, period.
the reason for this is also cultural… when a chinese woman marries, she joins her husband’s household, where the husband’s mother remains in charge and the daughter-in-law is expected to be servile… modern, educated chinese women are becoming thoroughly disenchanted with this model
Some cultures in ancient history also practiced female infanticide. Two results: Homosexuality and/or pedophilia more common; increased war and aggressive colonization (kill your male enemies, steal their wives).
Why should we care? In a short while, if the Chinese do not change this policy, they will be gone.
Why not send the abused and disenfranchised women of the Muslim world to China.
Buying every Afghan woman a ticket to Beijing will still be cheaper than fighting for women’s rights in the middle east.
Our troops can come home, the women will go where they’re appreciated and soon the Muslims will be gone as well.
What’s the harm?
As a born American that has and will again live in China, I am amused at the statements made here by people that don’t have a clue. We here do many things very well and many things horribly wrong, The Chinese are exactly the same. Only for now they own more of this country than we do and are getting more everyday. Soon this country will be Chinese owned and then they will have all the American wives that they need.
A girl generally must be provided with a dowry
I am afraid that, to solve this problem, the Communist Chinese Government would make war against its neighboring countries to reduce the male population and increase its sphere of influence.
Well if there are so few women why did I get pictures of beautiful chinese women who were looking for American husbands. I know they were beautiful because being a widower I went to china and brought one home we were married 3 years and then she died in a tragic traffic accident. So I am going again, if I can find one that is half as good as my last wife I will have found a gem and I don’t care if they can’t find a bride in China. You know what they say about asian men.
I think educating people about birth control and pushing for a cultural change would have been better than the “1 child” rule. Now look at the mess they are in. They were warned about this years ago! There were better options but they did not consider them. All this and YOU STILL HEAR NOTHING about any “cultural change” going on in China…Kill off baby girls then when you don’t have enough women, kidnap some…Makes NO sense! Making laws regarding reproductive rights is WRONG and hopefully this will go down in history as a huge failure!