Something Strange Is Happening to China's Women (Video - 20mn)

   The fascinating story of population and authoritarianism.  

   In the 1950s and 1960s, in spite of great famines, the Chinese population was growing too fast. The state solution was the one child policy implemented ruthlessly over the following two decades. It certainly did slow down the growth of the population but it also created imbalances from which China is now struggling to exit. 

   The clash between what bureaucrats and people wanted was stark. The CCP wanted fewer mouths to feed. Most families given no choice wanted a boy as a only child to perpetuate their name. This created a significant imbalance later compounded by improved women literacy which unfortunately comes with a huge drawback for society: Women want to marry up, not down. This created the famous: 6-6-6, 6 feet, 6-pack, 6-figure salary. A US acronym since Chinese people do not count in feet but never mind, we get the picture. The imbalance was real and has kept growing for the last 30 years. 

   Women flocked to the cities, got more educated... and consequently found nobody to marry. Add to this the cost of raising a family and buying a house or an apartment and you get a population crash similar to what's happening in Japan or Korea for similar reasons but faster.     

   Now China would like more children but again as in neighboring countries, no policy seems to work.  

   Having studied population statistics for years, I do not believe there is a simple answer to the question, or even a complex one for that matter!

   The video below explains the dilemma clearly:

Something Strange Is Happening to China's Women