China's men lack millions of brides

China's men lack millions of brides
The Daily Telegraph ^ | January 15, 2007 | Jane Macartney

CHINA will be short of 30 million brides within 15 years, according to an official report into the country's burgeoning population.

About one in every 10 men aged between 20 and 45 - equivalent to almost the entire population of Canada - will be unable to find a wife.

The findings, from the State Population and Family Planning Commission, outline bleak prospects - and not only for bachelors.

The report says the gender imbalance could result in social instability - a threat that the Communist Party regards as the greatest risk to its grip on power.

It is almost three decades since China's rulers implemented a strict "one couple, one child" policy.

It replaced Chairman Mao Zedong's focus on a high birth rate, which had been intended to ensure that China could fend off enemies with human-wave warfare. The unintended consequences of those severe controls have become increasingly pronounced.

China's population is forecast to peak at 1.5 billion in 2033. That growth, coupled with demographic imbalances, will threaten social stability, the economy, the environment and jobs.

One effect of China's strict population control has been a jump in gender selection of babies. The traditional preference for a son means that more and more women abort their baby if an early-term ultrasound examination shows it to be a girl.

Officials deny that the gender imbalance is a result of the family-planning policy.

It is illegal for doctors to tell parents the results of an ultrasound test without a medical reason, though many do so.

As a result, abortions of female fetuses are widespread, especially in rural areas, as parents try to ensure that the one child they are allowed by law is a boy.

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