Another interesting article from China Daily which says that the rising sex-ration imbalance is a danger and there is an increasing number of single men in China.
With the one child policy a lot of families, especially in the south and in rural areas, prefer to have a male child over a female child. Currently for every 100 female children there are 118.6 males and in some southern regions the figure has reached 130 boys for every 100 girls (the gender ration was 110:100 in 2000), which may not sound like a lot but spread that over the huge population in China and it becomes greatly magnified. By 2020 it is expected that there will be some 30 million more men of marriage age than women (half the population of France!!) due to the imbalance.
In an attempt to halt the growing imbalance, a "Care for Girls" campaign was launched nationwide in 2000 to promote equality between men and women. Cash incentives are also offered to girl-only families in the countryside. The authorities said such programs will continue to fight discrimination against girls and ensure their healthy growth. The authorities also pledged to "firmly" continue the 33-year-old family planning policy, as the country still faces huge challenges from a growing population.
Formulated in the early 1970s, the family planning policy encourages late marriages and late childbearing, and limits most urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two. The policy is credited with preventing 400 million births.
 |
