# Skewed Chinese Sex Ratios **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669 "2010-01-12T16:10:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/1 "2010-01-12T16:10:27Z")
Apparently there are 119 men for each 100 women. In some areas it’s 130 to 100. Normal ratios are supposed to be 103-107 to one: [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100111/hl\_afp/chinapopulationmenmarriage](http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100111/hl_afp/chinapopulationmenmarriage) Gonna be a lot of frustrated Chinese guys in the near future. And I thought _I_ had it bad. ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/2 "2010-01-12T16:42:50Z")
Not only that but there is a geographic skew as well. Many women go to the eastern coastal cities for the factory jobs and the men go to the western provinces to do large construction jobs (railway, dams, roads). It is a ticking time bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/3 "2010-01-12T16:59:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Apparently there are 119 men for each 100 women. In some areas it’s 130 to 100. Normal ratios are supposed to be 103-107 to **one** : 103-107 men for every one woman? That’s a ratio not usually seen outside of a gay bar or (add your least favorite college here)'s engineering department. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/4 "2010-01-12T18:47:38Z")
I think it is just as bad in India. I wonder if the dowry tradition will survive this. It shouldn’t; there should be competition for women and perhaps they will institute bride price instead. That would be a rational response and the ratio would adjust toot sweet since suddenly girls would have economic value not an economic drag. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/5 "2010-01-12T19:11:57Z")
Clever title. I take it the SE is represents the higher level of males, and the x is the lower number of females. Clever. I mean, you’re too good to have just made a typo, right? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/6 "2010-01-12T19:30:20Z")
> [@](#): > > I mean, you’re too good to have just made a typo, right? C’mon – you see how rarely I make TYpos. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/7 "2010-01-12T19:54:07Z")
> [@Rain\_Soaked](#): > > Not only that but there is a geographic skew as well. Many women go to the eastern coastal cities for the factory jobs and the men go to the western provinces to do large construction jobs (railway, dams, roads). It is a ticking time bomb. [Jocelyn Elders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jocelyn_Elders#Career) had her great idea 16 years ago: > [@](#): > > In 1994, she was invited to speak at a United Nations conference on AIDS. She was asked whether it would be appropriate to promote masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity, and she replied, “I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught.” Oops! With her brilliant insight, it seems she came too soon. Call it premature ideation. Maybe she can go to China and teach semenars on how Chinese men and women can handle themselves in the absence of suitable partners. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/8 "2010-01-12T19:59:36Z")
It said on the news that there are 30 million fewer Chinese women than men. That’s HUGE! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/9 "2010-01-12T20:08:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > C’mon – you see how rarely I make TYpos. I fixed the typo in the thread title, but I can’t do anything about that 103:1 thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/10 "2010-01-12T21:12:18Z")
Ther’s likely to be a lot of pressure in heavily-male areas to look the other way at prostitution, and that’s probably going to produce a spike in STDs. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/11 "2010-01-12T22:38:59Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > It said on the news that there are 30 million fewer Chinese women than men. That’s HUGE! It’s a terrific environment if you want a ready pool of conscripts willing to travel and fight for a standing army. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/12 "2010-01-12T22:42:07Z")
I was always afraid that this kind of population imbalance could lead to war… How’s that for paranoid? ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/13 "2010-01-13T14:38:24Z")
It was explained to me that the imbalance came about because of the Chinese tradition that when your daughter marries, she goes away and becomes a member of her husband’s family and helps support his parents in their old age. Since a son and whoever he marries supports his parents, the ideal is to make sure you have a son or two to support you. There is/was no government old-age pension system. When the “one child” program was put in place, families decided to abort, throw down a well, or leave on the side of the road any female babies in favor of having their only child be male. Pure economic necessity, especially in rural areas. Male babies lived; female babies did not. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/14 "2010-01-13T15:09:00Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > Oops! With her brilliant insight, it seems she came too soon. Call it premature ideation. Maybe she can go to China and teach **semen** ars on how Chinese men and women can handle themselves in the absence of suitable partners. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/15 "2010-01-13T15:21:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I think it is just as bad in India. I wonder if the dowry tradition will survive this. It shouldn’t; there should be competition for women and perhaps they will institute bride price instead. That would be a rational response and the ratio would adjust toot sweet since suddenly girls would have economic value not an economic drag. We can hope, but apparently one solution in China is to kidnap a girl (usually from the country) and force her into marriage. Demand without supply can foster crime, too. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/16 "2010-01-13T15:42:25Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I fixed the typo in the thread title, but I can’t do anything about that 103:1 thing. Couldn’t you at least send some Gatorade and lube? ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/17 "2010-01-13T17:08:55Z")
The government could encourage mass emigration (legal and illegal) of single males. If illegal migrants are caught without documentation in the host country, the Chinese government could deny that they are citizens and the host country would be stuck with them. [Here](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12174500/) is an example of the difficulty of repatriating illegal Chinese immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/18 "2010-01-13T17:55:12Z")
Eric Raymond predicts that [a good old-fashioned war may be the answer.](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1566) ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/19 "2010-01-13T18:13:57Z")
I’ve also heard there are significant numbers of Chinese men who go on special trips to Vietnam or Laos or one of the poorer countries to get foreign brides. The women benefit from having a more economically comfortable life in China. The men benefit from getting wives unavailable in China. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669/20 "2010-01-13T18:31:55Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > It’s a terrific environment if you want a ready pool of conscripts willing to travel and fight for a standing army. It’s also good if you want to recruit potential terrorists. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skewed-chinese-sex-ratios/524669.md?page=2)