A globally unprecedented crisis is facing China, thanks to the illegal but still-all-too-common practice of selectively aborting female fetuses[1]. By 2020, China will find itself with 30 million more men of marrying age than women. What will this imbalance mean in practical terms? Here are five educated guesses:
1. A rise in imported mail-order brides
When Chinese men fail to find wives locally, they will likely look abroad. An early-1990s boy boom in South Korea[2] has led to a similar imbalance, a sharp uptick in the number of “mixed” Korean marriages — 11 percent by 2008 — and a rise in “Kosian” (Korean-Asian) children.
2. An uptick in gay relationships
Homosexuality is not especially well-tolerated in China, but that could change as men — and society — run out of options, says Rudi Stettner in IndyPosted[3]. Currently, it’s believed that 90 percent of the estimated 25 million gay Chinese men marry women, often without confessing their sexual orientation, says University of Shanghai sexologist Liu Dalin[4], as quoted in The Economist. That option will dry up, and while lobbyist efforts to persuade Chinese legislators to approve gay marriage are making headway, it’s slow going.
Read more at the link.
Comments