HONG KONG -- A quarter of a century ago, China decided to focus on economic development rather than Maoist class struggle. As part of that drive, it adopted a policy of limiting population growth with couples allowed to have only one child in the cities. Chinese officials say that as a result, 300 million births have been prevented. Without such a policy, China's population today would stand at 1.6 billion.
However, the success in keeping population growth down has been achieved at great social cost. A combination of the traditional preference for sons over daughters and modern ultrasound technology means that millions of female fetuses have been aborted. The resulting gender imbalance in the country has assumed grave proportions.
A 1999 report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation estimated that between 500,000 and 750,000 unborn Chinese girls have been aborted every year since gender screening began. In addition, countless baby girls have been killed after childbirth.