For weeks before the trip, I'd been too excited to sleep, but on the plane I was suddenly calm. It had been only a few months since I'd started thinking about adoption, and I was amazed at how much had happened to me in that short time. I'd always wanted to he a mother, and my first husband's lack of interest in parenthood was one of the reasons we broke up. But at 35, I was happily single, and though I hoped to remarry someday, I felt unhurried. The government instituted strict birth control laws that allow most families to have only one child.
Chinese women are much more respected if their one child is male.
A son is a cultural and economic advantage. The one-child policy sounds harsh, and it is. But China has one filth of the world's population, and officially the edict is an attempt to limit births in order to prevent mass starvation. In fact, today in China a woman isn't allowed to have even one child unless she has government permission. If a woman is pregnant without permission or for a second time, she may be pressured to abort the baby or let a doctor put it to sleep immediately after birth.