There have been some recent media reports stating that China's sex ratio at birth has risen to unnatural and historically unprecedented levels over the past two decades, posing a potential threat to social stability.

It's said that China's child sex ratio has deteriorated over the past years, and currently the sex ratio at birth is 120 boys per 100 girls. This means that in 20 years the country will see over 30 million male adults who are unable to find wives. For this reason some reports claim that China will face a crisis caused by the sex ratio imbalance in the foreseeable future.

The apprehension about the extent of the problem being nationwide, however, has been proved groundless by an in-depth study carried out by two demographers, Chen Shengli and Yang Zihui.

They argue that the whole thing has been exaggerated. They point out that some places in China are not suffering from an imbalance in the birth sex ratio. In such areas as Shihezi City of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region the sex ratio at birth has been normal for the past 22 years, and in Nantong City of neighbouring Jiangsu Province the sex ratio at birth has been normal over the past decade.

However, both demographers agree that raising the problem of sex ratio imbalance at birth is not "much ado about nothing", because it is an issue of public importance. Once an imbalance occurs in a region, it will have a terrible effect which could last for decades, and it will have a direct impact on family life and marriage.

On one hand, serious gender disproportion could pose a potential threat to China's economic growth and social stability, stimulating crime and social problems such as mercenary marriages and extramarital sex, undermining family stability as well. On the other hand, while devotion to family and family love can lead us toward a moral life, a huge surplus male population with no chance of ever having a wife or family life may cause a great deal of instability in society.

Sex ratio imbalance at birth can be attributed to a number of factors. First of all, there is a deep-rooted preference for male offspring in our culture, and modern technologies such as ultrasound scanning have provided a way to discover the sex of the unborn child. If the child is not of the desired sex, the pregnancy may be terminated. This is a serious problem which should be addressed. In an effort to bring China's newborn sex ratio back to a normal level, the government has intervened to outlaw the widespread practice of pre-natal sex-determination tests.

However, the cause of the increased number of bachelor men is probably poverty rather than sex ratio imbalance. In some rural areas in southern China young women tend to marry urban residents, while young men are unable to get married because they are poor. In the long run these poverty-stricken bachelors are liable to become bitter and resentful against society and they will be more likely to turn to crime and other illegal activities. To solve this problem, we should spare no effort in developing the rural economy so as to increase farm incomes and eradicate poverty.

The problem of sex ratio imbalance is connected social insecurity. Solving this problem requires the establishment of a comprehensive social security system, including health insurance and old-age insurance for everyone so that people do not have to be concerned about how they will be supported in their old age, thus helping people to break away from the traditional idea of relying on sons for old-age support.

The problem of the high male sex ratio should be given greater attention. Perhaps this problem can best be addressed by narrowing gender inequality and the strong preference for sons. To bring about these kinds of changes, there is still a lot to do.

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