subject: One Child Policy Has Nasty Kick Back Effect by:Wendy Stenberg-Tendys [print this page] China's 30 year-old population planning of only one child, has led to an established preference for boys, as they are more productive on the farm, able to care for their parents in their old age and entitled to receive an inheritance. One 38 year- old China man said, "It doesn't matter how much money you have. If you don't have a son, you are not as good as other people who have one".
Girl children remain unwanted and regularly disposed of, or abandoned. Enforced abortion and sterilization became a normal part of living.
800,000 baby girls were abandoned or killed, in just one region, from 1971-80 alone. These numbers need to be multiplied by a further two generations, plus a dozen or more areas, taking the figure of missing girls into the tens of millions. The population planning is said to have decreased the population growth by 250 million, but it comes at an horrific price.
Now China has one of the biggest male-to-female ratios in the world. The 2005 census revealed an over supply of 32 million males under the age of 25. That's approximately the entire population of Canada.
This has led to intense competition for the few females that are available, particularly in rural areas, where it is looked upon as being a thing of disgrace if a man is left unmarried after the age of 24. The situation has created a sharp increase in the price of brides. This has in turn led to a phenomenon known as the 'Runaway Brides', or 'Bride Scam', which is believed to be part of a wider criminal ring.
Prospective brides suddenly appear in mainly rural areas (visiting friends) where there aren't any unmarried females. The girls go through the process of getting married and receiving the bride price, which can be as high as 38,000 yuan, (around $5,500), or approximately five years of income off a farm.
The girls' identity and residential papers usually prove to be authentic. Within a couple of days a marriage union is registered with the local registrar's office. Within a week there is a wedding feast and the groom's mother officially hands across the bride price. Frequently the money has been loaned and scraped up from other family members.
The new bride then moves into the in-laws home and it would seem as if 'happy families' are about to commence. In a very short time however, the bride disappears - taking the money with her. Often several 'brides' become available in one region, only to all disappear at exactly the same time - with their dowries, leaving the briefly married grooms to pine away, in their loveless rural life.
Girls as young as ten years of age are trafficked across the Burma/China border as child brides. Many of the girls are sold, into an uncertain future, by either their brother, or father.
About the author
Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys and her husband are CEO's of YouMe Support Foundation (http://youmesupport.org) providing high school education grants for children who are without hope. A chance to fulfill their dreams at whatever level they chose to. Take a few minutes to check it all out at Win A Resort (http://winaresort.com)
