By 2010, after Mr. Luo and others at the leading edge of the boy-bubble generation have reached marriage age, about nine million young men will be unable to find a wife, researchers say. For a hint of what that might mean, some demographers have looked as far afield as rural Ireland, which has had its own problems with young single men. Everybody Is Concerned' Demographers have known about the current looming boy bubble for years, but it took most of the past decade to get the government to respond. But such measures appear to be having limited impact. Take Nanshan, a farming village east of Beijing.
Girls are fine descendants too.
But slogans notwithstanding, villagers say the preference for boys persists. And the prejudice continues to be implicitly endorsed by a policy that permits second children for families whose first-born is a girl. They also say ultrasounds, while restricted, are easily obtained at the county clinic, so long as you know the doctor. If people go through the back door, then I don't know about it. This issue is sensitive for China's government, which acknowledges the problem but insists it isn't linked to its one-child population policy.