Wanted: Brides for China

Today's Sunday Times has an interesting article about a serious social problem in China. There are not enough female brides, so parents are helping their sons to hunt for a wife at a very early age. The problem is due to the imbalance of male to female ratio in China, and by 2020, there will be 24 million Chinese men without wives.

What causes this social issue? First, it is the traditional Chinese thinking that sons are the only valid heir of the family. Due to the one child policy, households in rural China did their best to give birth to a boy even at the risk of defying “one child policy” and being heavily fined. Others perform sex selective abortion, although this is illegal. On top of that, men from Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan join in the competition for mistresses and girlfriends. Then there are some girls that are exported to other parts of Asia as prostitutes in massage palours, KTV nite clubs, brothels. No wonder there are not many girls left in China.

My 亲爱的's 堂妹 was married last week, altough she barely knows her husband. It was an introduction by her aunt 2 months ago. His family is her aunt's neighbour. They dated for a while, and then the guy's family propose that they should get married. It is definitely a smart move; can't take the chance to allow other guys to come in between. From what I heard, the guy's family is well-to-do, and own some property in Chengdu. 亲爱的's 堂妹 is a very simple girl. I met her while we went to Guangzhou last year. I hope she has made the right decision.

It is really interesting to know that parents are trying very hard to help their children to match make. If the girl agrees to go dating with the guy, then the guy's family will have to give a token of a few thousand RMB to the girl's family. This is a good income generating activity and could start a trend for more daughters.

I don't think the communist party can do anything to help the 24 million bachelors, not unless they start promoting gay relationship.