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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| Wife shortage sweeping China | |
| 2007-01-13 | |
China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women by 2020, making it difficult for them to find wives, according to a national report, published by the BBC News on Friday. The gender imbalance could lead to social instability, the report by ChinaÂ’s State Population and Family Planning Commission warned.
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #18 Fred: # Victorious warfare burns off both a country's surplus males and enemy males, and makes enemy females available to the winning side. # Therefore Chinese aggressive war becomes more likely. I think this is a crock. The guys who keep on putting out the stats about male surpluses causing wars are probably wrong. Apart from economics, the social sciences aren't really sciences as such - just look at what has happened to Fraud's attempt to explain human behavior by resort to Greek mythology and sexual urges - thoroughly debunked. The Chinese problem has never been male surpluses as such - it's always been overpopulation following an extended period of peace and prosperity. (In antiquity, prosperity meant never going hungry). Male surpluses have been a fact of life throughout Chinese history - due to female infanticide. This came about not because of population control policies (which were non-existent in imperial China), but because economically-speaking, a daughter was a waste of family resources. You'd get to feed her until she was of marriageable age, and then she'd be married off, where she would help support the in-laws, but not her birth parents. A son, on the other hand, was a one-man retirement plan for his parents. By getting married, he would gain for the family an extra pair of hands to work in the fields, et al. The Chinese tradition today is still that only the sons inherit the parents' property. The daughters get no part of it. Contrary to what Fred says, the son's first duty isn't to continue the family line - it's to provide for his parents in their old age. Continuing the family line is important, but it comes after caring for one's parents. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-01-13 19:00 |
| #17 SB: But you still have to wonder about the mentality of a people when they can see this problem going on, have been told it's going to get worse, and yet continue to either abort or adopt out their daughters. It's a jobs problem. The economy is doing well today. But whatever they say in public, they have no idea if it will continue - all growth streaks eventually slow down, and sometimes go in reverse. (The Chinese economy is much better-run than India's, but that's because India's economy is badly-run, not because China's economy is well-run). The worst thing that can happen for the regime is a major recession after a couple of boom decades. The Party doesn't want to have to deal with major unemployment issues unless it absolutely has to. This, not the gender imbalance, is what the government is ultimately worried about. China has always had gender imbalances, but it's been major disasters that have sparked revolts, not gender imbalances. Take it from me - the average Chinese knows next to nothing about Western history, and isn't particularly interested in comparative history.* For lessons in acquiring and keeping power, they look, not to Western sources, but to the copious and detailed histories of Chinese administrations through the ages. The interesting thing is that Mao's textbook seems to have been the ancient (from 6 centuries ago) novel The Water Margin. * That would be like Gulliver looking at Lilliputian experiences for life lessons. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-01-13 14:54 |
| #16 I was under the impression that they adopted out more baby girls than that, Steve. I stand corrected on my previous assumption. But you still have to wonder about the mentality of a people when they can see this problem going on, have been told it's going to get worse, and yet continue to either abort or adopt out their daughters. (On a personal note, I hope the Chinese don't slam the door shut until me & the Tsar make a decision regarding adopting a little girl or trying for another biological child in about a year. We promised the Tsarevich at least a year of our undivided attention first. ;) ) |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2007-01-13 14:06 |
| #15 SPoD, I hear them NorKor wimmen can cook up a mean mess of lawn! |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2007-01-13 13:32 |
| #14 p2k: Americans seem to be the only 'nationality' which adopts children in large numbers regardless of color, race, or creed. I think it could be better worded: Americans seem to be the only 'nationality' which adopts children in large numbers. Chinese are technically restricted to one child, but can adopt as many as they want. Nonetheless, note that there's a surplus of babies waiting to be adopted. Another complication is that you can have as many biological children as you want as long as you pay the fines which are pretty steep (but might be discounted, given the scope for bribery), at a one-time payment of 100,000 yuan ($12,500) per child*. Then there are the complications involved in getting your kid registered for public school - that is possibly additional money for any biological children after the first one. * 100,000 yuan is 10 times the lowest annual salary in the coastal boomtowns. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-01-13 13:29 |
| #13 Tangential comment - Americans seem to be the only 'nationality' which adopts children in large numbers regardless of color, race, or creed. Underlying cultural and racial practices of other countries and people preclude the incorporation of others not of their 'blood' into their families. While local nationalist try to play upon the propaganda of Americans 'stealing' children, it isn't hard to hit back and point out Americans couldn't/wouldn't be adopting them if the locals did it themselves. They don't, so Americans do. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-01-13 13:07 |
| #12 I want to echo comments made by Mr. White above. I'm related (by marriage) to an infertile couple who were able to adopt two Chinese female babies (ages 1 and 3 IIRC). The adoption was arranged by a Catholic Chairty in China (whose name escapes me). Although it was somewhat costly, these babies were a godsend to the couple. I was privileged to observe this family at Christmas (the girls are now 6 and 8). A more heartwarming picture postcard you can't imagine. Ten years ago these baby girls would not have been permitted to be born. The Chicom Gov't is relaxing it's insistance that baby girls be aborted. Why? Because of the influx of foreign money into local economies through the adoption process. Cynical? Maybe. But it's better than forcing women to abort which has been prior Chicom Gov't policy. |
| Posted by: Mark Z 2007-01-13 11:46 |
| #11 Blondie, the adoption of Chinese baby girls by foreigners runs about 3 to 5 thousand per year to the U.S., and a couple thousand more to Europe (the former is decreasing, the latter increasing). China in fact just tightened rules modestly to slow the adoptions. This is a drop in the bucket. As a side-note, the Chinese run one of the more ethical adoption programs in the developing world, orders of magnitude better than, say, Romania, Ukraine or Russia. Bribery is forbidden, and the Chinese educated their own adoption case workers on the subject by taking a few of the more notorious bribe-takers out back and shooting them. I know a number of people who've adopted children from China, and there is near-uniform praise for their system. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-01-13 11:26 |
| #10 Maybe they will all go gay.... |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-01-13 11:22 |
| #9 Procopius, I guess that means the US won't be outsourcing its womenfolk... |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-01-13 10:02 |
| #8 You left out the underlying cultural bigotry which still considers all foreigners and their cultures to be inferior. China still believes it is the Heavenly Kingdom and all others are 'monkeys'. Monkeys with interesting technologies and gadgets, but monkeys none the less. Now doing a Sabine Women raid is old as history. The 'inferiority' status is thus mitigated by the use of force because the 'wife' is just looted property. There are probably hundreds of thousands of legitimate single women in the region [Philippines, Indonesia, et al] who could be wedded as equals, but that would socially disgrace the groom for willingly taking an foreign inferior. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-01-13 09:15 |
| #7 Well, as far as Chinese men and love/romantic stuff, they're cold fish. Total jerks, and they almost always play around after they get married. As far as the female shortage, it's only the lowerclass that will feel it. The solution? Either mass emigration of males, or mass importation of females, from somewhere. Although you'd have to be pretty darn hard up indeed to want an inconsiderate, uncouth man who only eats his mother's overly-spiced food. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-01-13 09:14 |
| #6 No wimmin? What's a Chinaman to do? I think I'm turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2007-01-13 08:30 |
| #5 Is that a Roe Effect I hear wailing mournfully in the distance off the coast of California? |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-01-13 07:49 |
| #4 I would think the number of adopted girl babies would be on the order of thousands, possibly as much as tens of thousands... not significant in a billion-something population, or even compared to the 30 million missing females. Although it certainly will add the Chinese male humiliation when those girls choose Western round-eye men instead of pure and traditionally reared Han stock. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-01-13 07:33 |
| #3 Don't forget....the Chinese are rather famous for putting their girl babies up for foreign adoption, too. I doubt that any of these Western raised girls are later going to be interested in marrying a Chinese raised man when they get older (maybe if he's Westernized, as in, speaks her new native language and is willing to live overseas with her for the duration of their marriage....otherwise, I don't see it happening). The number of girls and their future children forever lost to the Chinese this way, over time, has got to be substantial. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2007-01-13 04:40 |
| #2 My geranium saw this coming, if that's any help. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-01-13 03:46 |
| #1 I hear North Korean women make good wives. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2007-01-13 03:08 |