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New Chinese Law Prohibits Sex-Screening of Fetuses [1996]www.nytimes.com/1994/11/15/world/new-chinese-law-prohibits-sex-screening-of-fetuses.html
399 sats \ 12 comments \ @south_korea_ln 7 Feb Politics_And_Law
Yes, this is an old article. It is not a new law. I did not want to change the title of the article.
Sex-screening, using ultrasound machines, has become popular in China because of a tradition of preferring sons to daughters. Some parents, allowed only one child, choose abortion when they find out that the wife is carrying a girl. This has led to a rising imbalance in the ratio of men to women in China.
The law decrees that sex identification of a fetus by technical means is strictly forbidden, except when needed on medical grounds. Doctors who perform such tests, which are not difficult, could lose their license under the law.
But I thought this law had been revoked since. Seems like it hasn't (other than a few amendments).
I was recently talking to a Chinese friend, and she could only figure out the gender of her kid due in 4 months after traveling abroad. In China, a medical professional would get their license revoked if they get caught disclosing the gender for non-medical reasons.
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150 sats \ 2 replies \ @OT 7 Feb
We had our first in Shanghai. Because I was a foreigner the doctor secretly let my wife know the gender.
There are also black market doctors who can let you know the gender for cash. Probably cheaper than going abroad to find out.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @south_korea_ln OP 7 Feb
I see... yes, said friend had to go abroad anyhow, so she didn't travel just for that reason.
So it's not strictly enforced? Or have there been doctors actually losing their license?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 7 Feb
I think it's still enforced, but like everything in China they always find a way around if they really want to.
We left a few years ago and the 3 child policy came in. Maybe it has changed because that's why it was there in the first place. If you could only have one child, most wanted it to be a boy to pass the family name down. Now that 3 are allowed (more like encouraged!) it may have been removed.
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0 sats \ 6 replies \ @User21000000 7 Feb
Is the abortion stats accurate? Maybe they should remove the one kid rule that would fix this as well?
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0 sats \ 5 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 7 Feb
One-kid rule is long gone. This is a 1996 article. It's just that the law about gender reveal still seems to be in place, but as mentioned in #878389, there are ways around, apparently.
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0 sats \ 4 replies \ @User21000000 7 Feb
Why are girls so frowned upon?
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 7 Feb
From what I remember when I was in China many years ago, it was about passing down your name, family pride, etc... if you had a girl, you knew you'd have to kind of give her away into the other family once she gets married.
Things have changed now, I don't think it's like that anymore.
Same thing in Korea. Now, according to our doctor, many parents even prefer having a girl. The doctor felt like she had to console us when the gender turned out to be a boy. But we didn't care, so no consolation was necessary~~
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @User21000000 7 Feb
Is there a financial part when giving the female away traditionally? Like having to pay for the wedding which also adds weight . It’s going to be strange giving my daughter away one day and seeing her name change
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @south_korea_ln OP 7 Feb
Yeah, that's a factor too. I attended such negotiations in China at some point. The groom was in a weak position for the negotiations, so he had to "pay" a lot to buy the bride into his family. Again, more than 10 years ago, I'm sure things have changed and things are not that rigid anymore.
Lots of envelopes had to be given too to the bride's friends before the wedding for them to let her go.
The bride's family from her side might contribute by buying household items. I remember a wedding where everyone, one by one, had to test the new bridal bed they had received as a gift for their wedding.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @kilianbuhn 7 Feb
My personal conspiracy theory is that the 50/50 male/female ratio at birth is a big lie
It's more like 66/33.
The human species is naturally made for half of all males dying in war. They lie about it to not create unrest in the streets.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 7 Feb
My personal conspiracy theory is that the 50/50 male/female ratio at birth is a big lie
Actually, that's not so much a conspiracy theory. Just the 66/33 is a bit off ;)
I think it's more like 105/100 in terms of male births/female births, and most often assumed to be caused by higher mortality of men. There is evolutionary pressure for it to be the case: https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.179.4068.90
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