China's Ticking Gender Bomb

With young men far outnumbering young women, the Chinese government is planning a crackdown on sex-selective abortions, reports the Observer.

There has been alarm for more than a decade, but it has reached a new pitch in recent months as state demographers forecast that 37 million men will be unable to find wives by 2020. Already there are 18 million more men than women of marriageable age. In a recent survey by the China Youth Daily, 85 per cent of respondents were worried about the implications of the gender gap.

What made this possible? A combination of China's one child policy, a cultural preference for boys and modern reproductive technology.

In the past, unwanted girls were abandoned. Now they are more likely to be aborted. As China has become wealthier, more couples have access to ultrasound checks. Although there are two laws banning doctors from telling pregnant women the sex of the foetus, the practice is common.
Local media report that one common way around the regulations is for doctors silently to give a thumbs-up if the foetus is a boy. If it is a girl, a thumbs-down serves as an execution order.

And what's it mean? Well, the Observer notes a fear of "sexual turmoil and 'bachelor villages'" in the headline, but doesn't say much more.
The bottom line, though, is that 40 million young, single men are bad news, especially if they're concentrated in economically declining rural areas with limited job prospects.

Sexually and economically frustrated young men are the kindling of social unrest. It's very rarely married guys with families who rock balaclavas and AK-47s. China might have accidentally set itself up for another revolution.
Crisis looms as 18 million Chinese can't find a wife [Observer]

Image: Collection of Stefan Landsberger*