Men and Men Men Boys! Kindergartens are full of young boys, what happened to the sex ratio of newborns in China?
◎ Wisdom Valley Trend (ID: zgtrend) | Summer worm Zhao Nan
In addition to the low fertility rate, another dark cloud that lingers over the heads of the big country is the "imbalance of the sex ratio".
The latest data in 2022 shows that as the second child and the third child become the main force of birth, the "traditional conservative forces" that were once hidden under the surface of the water have once again re-emerged -
The latest sex ratio at birth has reached 111.1, compared to 108.3 the previous year.
It should be known that since 2008, the sex ratio at birth in the mainland has been showing a downward trend, from deformity to slowly approaching the normal range (103-107).
Source: UNICEF
Unexpectedly, with the blessing of the three-child policy, this data has risen against the trend. This means that the country's 30 million singles may usher in a new magnitude.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the sex ratio at birth across the country, we specially combed the data of more than 300 cities in 2020 and found many shocking truths:
The Liangguang region, which is unwilling to bow to the low fertility rate, stubbornly gave birth to the most five children in the country;
In the famous Chaoshan area, the sex ratio of one child far exceeds that of three children, and it seems that the pursuit of the first child is inevitable;
Behind the fairy tale of "the only daughter of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai" that envies the whole country, the idea of preferring sons over women has not actually changed;
Jiangxi used its indisputable strength to sit on the name of the "patriarchal" bride price province;
......
This article will tell you the most real and comprehensive regional truth on the whole network.
Little boys everywhere
When the obstetrics department was deserted and kindergarten began to be difficult to find a child, I felt that it was not about themselves, and parents who chose to support the kindergarten career also began to feel that something was wrong——
Little boys, isn't it too much?
In recent years, if you pay a little attention to the kindergartens in the city, you will find that the painting style looks like this:
Men and women, men and men.
This is not a joke, some netizens posted photos, their own 20-year-old little girl reading nursery, a small dinner table, in addition to five little boys, the only remaining girl, turned out to be the hosting teacher.
Some netizens sent their nephew into kindergarten, and found that there were 14 boys in the class, but only 4 girls, close to the ratio of 3:1, so puzzled that she ran to ask netizens, "Is the ratio of men to women in kindergarten so exaggerated now?" ”
Unexpectedly, the netizens who commented saw the situation not too much, "Our class, 19 boys, 8 girls."
The rare place where there are more girls than boys may be mountain village elementary schools. Some rural teachers posted photos and found that whether it was kindergarten or the first, second and third grades, the number of girls overwhelmingly exceeded the boys, and after questioning, they found that it was originally conditional families who sent the girl's brothers and brothers to the town and county schools to receive a better education.
And the source of all this strange situation seems to point to multi-child families. If the parents who post the photos on it inquire carefully, they may find that most of their children's classmates are not only children. Some netizens in Hangzhou found that there were 25 people in the class, and 21 children were from multi-child families.
In other words, we have ushered in a "two-child era".
Indeed, since the release of the two-child and three-child policy, the proportion of children with two children and above in the mainland has soared from about 30% in 2013 to 58.6% in 2017, and 58.7% and 57.7% in 2018 and 2019, accounting for most of the newborns.
And the children born in these years are four or five or six years old this year, and they are studying in kindergarten at the moment. With the release of two children and three children, it is also implied that families chasing boys finally have the opportunity to "make up for regrets".
"So far, China has the longest gender imbalance in the world, the largest outbreak region, and the highest peak." In his 2018 book A Study on the Evolution Mechanism of Gender Imbalance in China, the author describes the problem of sex ratio on the mainland.
Indeed, when we look at the data on the sex ratio of newborns in seven regions of the country, we will find a truth: the sex ratio in most places is not normal, and from the beginning of the three children, this ratio is more and more deformed.
The sex ratio at birth refers to the number of boys per 100 girls born, and the currently recognized normal sex ratio at birth is between 103 and 107. Below 103 is low, 103-107 is normal, and above 107 is considered high, and above 130 is extremely high.
Nationwide, only seven of the 31 provinces and municipalities have sex ratios at birth within the normal range: Tibet (101), Shanxi (102), Jilin (104), Heilongjiang (105), Inner Mongolia (105), Ningxia (105) and Xinjiang (105).
This means that the sex ratio in the remaining 24 provinces and municipalities, i.e. most of the country, is abnormally high.
The disillusionment of the fairy tale of "the only daughter of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai"
"I dreamed of reincarnating in the next life and becoming the only daughter of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai!"
When the fairytale-like character of "the only daughter of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai" appeared, it immediately aroused the envy of the whole network.
They had a smooth life, were born in the wealthy Yangtze River Delta, enjoyed the favor of their parents and family resources, and were able to escape the curse of "son preference" without having to be named "looking forward" or "coming to watch".
However, the real data tells us an extremely cruel truth:
The only daughter in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai has always been an isolated phenomenon. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai families who can chase three children are not soft at all when it comes to chasing boys.
The data shows that Rao, China's strongest economic city and Shanghai, which is the most connected to the world, is also "soaring" at birth.
The sex of one child is still lower than the national average, but it is higher than the national average from the second child, and the third child is as high as 152.78, beating Beijing (119) and Guangzhou (148), and the four-child sex ratio soared to 216.67, ranking first in the country.
It can be seen how hard Shanghainese work to give birth to a boy.
The sex ratio at birth of 216.67 is an extremely contrary to the laws of nature, so in the next life to reincarnate a girl from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, you may not have the opportunity to say "hi" to the world.
Some netizens posted that she is now living in Shanghai, and after she became pregnant, almost everyone in the community who met her pointed to her stomach and said: "You look like a boy!" ", shattering the impression that netizens have long believed that Shanghai is the least patriarchal place in China.
Turning to the data of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is also comparable, the sex ratio at birth of two children can maintain the relatively normal data of 105.59 and 108.27, but the sex ratio of three children has soared to 146.55 and 143.1 respectively.
Some netizens asked in the Douban group: I heard others say that Zhejiang rarely prefers sons to women, and women have a higher status, is it true?
Hot comment first: "There is one to say, don't come to Wenzhou, Zhejiang".
The sex ratio of newborns, which is approaching 120, is already worth a thousand words.
Searching for the topic of "picking up male treasure" on social platforms, unexpectedly, the two most popular posts (excluding irrelevant content) are not Fujian, not Jiangxi, but Jiangsu.
In the comment area, there are thousands of posts such as "kneel to ask the bodhisattva for blessing: May I get my wish to conceive a male treasure", dense "receiving male treasure" comment area, and netizens came to specially "return the wish", saying that they finally "won the lottery".
From the data point of view, the division in Sudaqiang Province is large, but whether it is rich such as Yangzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi and other southern Jiangsu regions, there are also cases where the three-child sex ratio basically exceeds 150, and Suzhou, the most bullish prefecture-level city, has rushed to 168;
As for Suqian, Yancheng and Huai'an in northern Jiangsu, they directly exceeded 160.
Even if she is already an "only daughter in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai", it may be difficult to escape the "clutches" of son preference.
Some netizens said that they were lucky to catch up with the one-child policy, and happened to be born in Shanghai, which strictly adheres to the policy, in order to enjoy the exclusive favor of their parents.
However, when the family dealt with the grandfather's inheritance, they still "voluntarily" gave up the inheritance and gave it to the only grandson of the family, the cousin.
"After reading the law for so many years, it seems to be completely useless in terms of son preference, love brain, and vampire issues", helpless netizens, words revealed a full of powerlessness.
From this point of view, the only daughter in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai is only born at the right time, and under the intervention of the family planning policy, the special phenomenon of being born in a wealthy family can be described as an indispensable move of "the right time and place".
With the blessing of the three-child policy, the increasingly deformed sex ratio of multiple children only exposes the true face of "son preference" in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.
On the Internet, there is also a rumor of the darkest moment of the only daughter of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai——
Suddenly found that I "like to be a sister"...
Source: KnowYourself
With the whole powerful cultural inertia, we have to admit that perhaps the truth is that there is no place for exceptions.
In Jiangxi, the bride price is high for a reason
Without disappointing anyone, Jiangxi, the "bride price province", won the first place in the country with a sex ratio of 122.7.
Other provinces that have rounded out the top five are Hainan (120.55), Fujian (120.1), Guangdong (117.52) and Hunan (116.91).
Carefully disassemble the sex ratio of newborns in various cities in Jiangxi Province, and you will find that this is simply a patriarchal province with no dead ends——
Even Nanchang, the capital of the province with the lowest sex ratio, surpasses the national average of 112 with 116, not to mention the prefecture-level cities with 120 at every turn.
In the whole province, there is not a single "outlier".
But what is really outrageous is the data after the third child -
In all the 11 cities of Jiangxi, the three-child sex ratio exceeds 150, which means that for every two girls born in these places, three boys are born.
The most outrageous Xinyu City rushed to 221. In 2020, 135 three-child babies were born in the city, of which 42 were girls and 93 boys. According to the normal sex ratio, 50 baby girls disappear a year.
As you can imagine, extensive gender screening is still taking place in invisible corners.
A catch-all rule is that the lower the income, the more boys are preferred, according to a study at Xi'an Jiaotong University.
Jiangxi's data do have traces, Nanchang, which has the highest per capita GDP, and Ganzhou, which has the lowest per capita GDP, just form a tail, echoing the two ends of the sex ratio in the province.
The national sex ratio gives a reasonable explanation for the high bride price.
And the rise of the "Jiangxi Economic Belt" has given Jiangxi, the "collapse area", a hard punch -
As the only region in the country that has been siphonized by six wealthy provinces at the same time, the crazy outflow of marriageable women in Jiangxi, coupled with fewer female babies, has forced local men to repeatedly raise the bride price.
The bullets fired by the elders twenty years ago are now impartial, hitting the brains of Jiangxi bachelors and becoming the last straw on their backs.
Hainan, Fujian, Guangdong
The inevitability of clan power
Outside Jiangxi, Hainan, Fujian, Guangdong and Hunan are also among the top five.
Fujian Guangdong came out on top, making the aforementioned rule of "the poorer the more you love to have sons" suddenly invalidated. Behind it, it is actually the strong domination of clan culture that is at work.
These top provinces can be extensively classified in South China, that is, areas with relatively strong clan forces, and as for Hunan, which rushed into the top five, it is also known as the back garden of Guangdong.
Not to mention that Jiangxi, which ranks first, is the "cradle of Hakka", and its clan fighting is prosperous, and it was even once known as the Chinese Sparta, "Jiangxi's weapon fighting style, with Ganzhou in southern Gannan, Nan'an Ningdu and Raozhou and Nankang in northern Gan as the most prosperous... Therefore, its courageous style is not less than that of Sparta on that day. ”
As for the Liangguang region and Fujian and other places, the idea of many children and many blessings is prevalent -
When outsiders first learned that Cantonese people must bring several layers of golden pig plaques when they get married, which means four generations living together, and the six little piglets hanging below mean many children and blessings, it also caused a wave of Internet shock:
You Cantonese people, is this acceptable?
The truth is that there will always be some people who put these blessings into practice.
In 2020, Guangdong province alone gave birth to 1,188 five-child children, followed by Guangxi, ranking second in the country with 797 five-child births.
When other places coax money and resources, just asking everyone to have a child, the two Guangguang add up and have already given birth to one-third of the country's five children.
This is the pioneer of "giving birth to a baby for the country" who still stands in the real cold wind and walks on the front line of fertility with a fearless spirit.
Specific to the sex ratio of Guangdong cities, the three Chaoshan cities that have always been known as supporting China's fertility market - Shantou (116), Jieyang (123) and Chaozhou (117) - are not very prominent, and even comparable to several developed cities in the Pearl River Delta, such as Guangzhou (114), Shenzhen (117), Foshan (116) and Dongguan (122).
An anomaly is that there has been a change in the three cities of Chaoshan in China's fertility vane. In these three cities, the sex ratio of one child is much higher than that of two children and three children, which is exactly the opposite of the national trend and is rare in the country.
You know, in the six Pu data in 2010, in addition to Jieyang, Shantou and Chaozhou have shown a trend of increasing sex ratio from child to child, in line with the general trend.
Does this mean that these young Chaoshan people have given birth enough, and choose to control from the gender of one child, in order to achieve a one-step "firstborn is a boy"?
When Chaoshan people have a "new normal", how long will we be entangled with the dark cloud of gender imbalance?