Restoring gender equilibrium in China

[phk]

Internet chat groups have sprang up where women exchange advice on how to conceive girls.

Rising property prices are driving the change, which is expected to be confirmed by China’s once-a-decade census that started on Monday, because Chinese families must traditionally buy a flat for a son before he can marry.

“My husband and I don’t earn much and I can’t imagine how we can buy a flat for a son,” says Zhang Aiqin of Pujiang in Zhejiang province.

“And it is not only a flat,” says Zhang Yun, a Shanxi province native who lives in Shanghai, alluding to the cost of educating and marrying off a boy. “Sons bring economic pressure ... [but] ‘a daughter is a warm jacket for a mother’ when she is old,” she says, quoting an ancient Chinese idiom to illustrate the fact that many urbanised Chinese think daughters are better caregivers. 

[Beet]

The government should just offer a lump sum for having a girl. Something like $400 (2500 yuan) should do to start.

[dead0man]

It ain't going to help the millions of horny, womenless dudes over there.  They really should consider importing women from Africa.  They need to ban Happy Meal toys first though...you know how bad "brown" people are with feeding their kids.

[Хahar 🤔]

It ain't going to help the millions of horny, womenless dudes over there.  They really should consider importing women from Africa.  They need to ban Happy Meal toys first though...you know how bad "brown" people are with feeding their kids.

What a waste of bandwidth.

[dead0man]

And your post was godsend of it?  Hi pot, my name is kettle, how you doing?

[Хahar 🤔]

I mean, presumably some thought must have gone into the aforementioned post, but it is utterly devoid of anything intelligent. If this is how you view the world, then I pity you.

[dead0man]

How does me making a joke about banning toys in fast food meals tell you anything about how I view the world? (other than that I find banning fast food toys to be stupid)

[Хahar 🤔]

It tells me that you perceive the world in rapid-fire non sequiturs. You're much like the media in that respect.

[dead0man]

I blame video games.

[phk]

Okay guys. Lets hope a mod can delete anything after Beet's post.

[The Ex-Factor]

One of the easiest things the Chinese government can do is to rescind the one-child policy. Given the cultural preference for boys, today's technology, and that limit, this only encourages abortions  of girl fetuses until the couple gets a male. Of course rural folk already have an exception to the policy if they have a girl first, but given that China is expected to reach peak population very soon the one-child policy's purpose has been fulfilled. Obviously the reasons for the gender imbalance extend far beyond that particular policy but rescinding it would be a start.

[Verily]

One of the easiest things the Chinese government can do is to rescind the one-child policy. Given the cultural preference for boys, today's technology, and that limit, this only encourages abortions  of girl fetuses until the couple gets a male. Of course rural folk already have an exception to the policy if they have a girl first, but given that China is expected to reach peak population very soon the one-child policy's purpose has been fulfilled. Obviously the reasons for the gender imbalance extend far beyond that particular policy but rescinding it would be a start.

China's economy still has to grow around 5% per year just to keep up with population growth. They want to control population growth the best they can. The One Child Policy is crude, but it is managing that, and the gender imbalance will do even more to slow China's population growth. The heavy skew towards men has the potential to cause unrest... but so would a sudden evaporation of the now widely available jobs and economic boom if there were two or three children per family instead of one.

Once China has reach developed country economic status, sure, then they will want population growth again. But by then they may prefer trying to attract immigrants from the developing world over encouraging population growth (maybe not, Chinese culture is very insular, but either way that's still at least four decades down the line).

[bgwah]

Xahar is such a nice little angel. I don't know why anyone could possibly dislike him.

[GMantis]

One of the easiest things the Chinese government can do is to rescind the one-child policy. Given the cultural preference for boys, today's technology, and that limit, this only encourages abortions  of girl fetuses until the couple gets a male. Of course rural folk already have an exception to the policy if they have a girl first, but given that China is expected to reach peak population very soon the one-child policy's purpose has been fulfilled. Obviously the reasons for the gender imbalance extend far beyond that particular policy but rescinding it would be a start.

China's economy still has to grow around 5% per year just to keep up with population growth. They want to control population growth the best they can. The One Child Policy is crude, but it is managing that, and the gender imbalance will do even more to slow China's population growth. The heavy skew towards men has the potential to cause unrest... but so would a sudden evaporation of the now widely available jobs and economic boom if there were two or three children per family instead of one.

Once China has reach developed country economic status, sure, then they will want population growth again. But by then they may prefer trying to attract immigrants from the developing world over encouraging population growth (maybe not, Chinese culture is very insular, but either way that's still at least four decades down the line).

Did you mean to say per decade instead of per year? China's current population growth rate is about 0.6% which is among the lowest in Asia. A high population growth is certainly not a problem at the moment, unlike the prospect of an aging population. It's also unlikely that the ever more urban Chinese population would massively increase its birthrate even if the restriction is removed.
And the moment when China's population will start to decrease is probably 20 to 30 years away, not four decades.

[opebo]

It ain't going to help the millions of horny, womenless dudes over there.  They really should consider importing women from Africa. 

I'm sure you know that Asian guys (in general) consider black women very unattractive - even repulsive.  The ideal in most Asian countries is a very pale-skinned Asian woman - even a white girl is a non-starter for nearly all guys over here.

I have a couple of female friends here from England, etc., who, being very pale and blond, and cute (nearly as slim as Thais), do very well snagging rich Thai boyfriends.  But, the behavior of the elite is always a bit of a counterpoint to the norm.

[Хahar 🤔]

Xahar is such a nice little angel. I don't know why anyone could possibly dislike him.

Didn't know you felt that way.