High property values make boys expensive, daughters attractive
(NEWSER) - As property prices climb, China's long-running preference for male children is eroding—and its reputation as a land of unwanted girls, aborted and given up for adoption in the face of the country's "one-child" policy, is being undone. A recent World Bank report shows that the gender imbalance toward boys actually peaked in mid-1990s in Beijing, with other provinces following suit in the last 10 years. Chinese parents are traditionally bound to buy a house for a son before he can marry, and rising property prices have made that responsibility increasingly burdensome. More»
