国家地理:China’s Lost Girls 被抛弃的女孩[4]
"Why is a boy so important? A girl is a person, too. " I was angry. I told him, "If you want to send me back to Hubei, I can't stop you. You think boys are so important, you can just stay here alone." That's what I told him then. '"If I have a girl, I'll take her with me.'"
Ya Qing had a boy. Her sister-in-law wasn't so lucky.
"My sister-in-law, her first child was a girl, and her second was also a girl. And she gave her away. She wanted to have a son. Feudal, it's very feudal. They all want to have sons. It's this way in the countryside. They want sons."
Ya Qing tells me that shortly before our visit, a girl had been abandoned in this area.
"In the town right outside here, there was a baby girl left in the box. There was no note with her birth date. They put some new clothes inside, packed her in a box and left her in the market. When people got there in the morning, they could hear the child crying. "
"Being adopted, it's OK. But sometimes you can get annoyed and sometimes, it, it feels like you are different from other people. And sometimes you feel like, well, you don't feel, you feel different from everybody else because they are probably, they probably, they are probably born from their mom and they indeed sometimes you feel like you don't, you don't feel like you did that you were born from a mom. You feel like, you were just born."
The growing imbalance of boys to girls in China is becoming a serious problem. And it's only expected to get worse.
The growing gender imbalance can best be seen in schools across China. Here at this primary school, we are told that every classroom averages about 39 kids, 28 of whom are boys.
Already Chinese official statistics show that there are nearly 13 million more young boys than girls. And what happens when there aren't enough girls? Chen Shengli is an official in China's Population and Family Planning Commission.
"The disparity between boy and girl is already quite large and growing even more, so, do you see it as a problem and if so, what are you, what are you trying to do about it?"
"In 10 years, or even 20, when this generation just born reaches marriageble age and goes to find a mate, they will not be able to match up evenly. With this shortage of over 10%, this percentage of males may not be able to find a woman to marry and will not be able to establish a family. This, we have to acknowledge, is going to be a very serious social problem. "
By the year 2020, there are expected to be up to 40 million marriage age men who'll have no one to marry. Experts warn this could cause outbreaks of violence in China and even war for the region.
Ya Qing had a boy. Her sister-in-law wasn't so lucky.
"My sister-in-law, her first child was a girl, and her second was also a girl. And she gave her away. She wanted to have a son. Feudal, it's very feudal. They all want to have sons. It's this way in the countryside. They want sons."
Ya Qing tells me that shortly before our visit, a girl had been abandoned in this area.
"In the town right outside here, there was a baby girl left in the box. There was no note with her birth date. They put some new clothes inside, packed her in a box and left her in the market. When people got there in the morning, they could hear the child crying. "
"Being adopted, it's OK. But sometimes you can get annoyed and sometimes, it, it feels like you are different from other people. And sometimes you feel like, well, you don't feel, you feel different from everybody else because they are probably, they probably, they are probably born from their mom and they indeed sometimes you feel like you don't, you don't feel like you did that you were born from a mom. You feel like, you were just born."
The growing imbalance of boys to girls in China is becoming a serious problem. And it's only expected to get worse.
The growing gender imbalance can best be seen in schools across China. Here at this primary school, we are told that every classroom averages about 39 kids, 28 of whom are boys.
Already Chinese official statistics show that there are nearly 13 million more young boys than girls. And what happens when there aren't enough girls? Chen Shengli is an official in China's Population and Family Planning Commission.
"The disparity between boy and girl is already quite large and growing even more, so, do you see it as a problem and if so, what are you, what are you trying to do about it?"
"In 10 years, or even 20, when this generation just born reaches marriageble age and goes to find a mate, they will not be able to match up evenly. With this shortage of over 10%, this percentage of males may not be able to find a woman to marry and will not be able to establish a family. This, we have to acknowledge, is going to be a very serious social problem. "
By the year 2020, there are expected to be up to 40 million marriage age men who'll have no one to marry. Experts warn this could cause outbreaks of violence in China and even war for the region.
