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The Missing Girls Of China: Population, Policy, Culture, Gender, Abortion, Abandonment, And Adoption In East-Asian Perspective, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article analyzes the causes and possible solutions to the sex ratio imbalance of China, as well as the causes of the diminishing numbers of intercountry adoptions from China. Part I provides statistical, historical, and cultural analysis of China's "missing girls" (sex-ratio imbalance), concluding that sex selective abortion has become the primary cause of China missing approximately ten percent of females at birth. The article focuses on both cultural factors and China's population control policies as causative factors. Part II discusses population control, declining fertility, and the devaluation of girls and women, analyzing a context where declining fertility has been …