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China is the world leader in excess female deaths, defined as the number of female deaths relative to male deaths compared with rates in rich countries. As the following chart from The Economist shows, China accounts for more excess female deaths than India, as well as all of sub-Saharan Africa put together. More than a quarter of all excess female deaths occur in China at birth because of the practice of sex-selective abortion.
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See that billboard on the right? It reads "Qingming condolences to my lost wife Gao Dezhen, who passed away during labor at the No. 2 Affiliated Hospital of West China Hospital on February 18, 2011." more ›

Yup, about half of China's births are delivered by C-section, and it partially may have to do with the hospital's economic incentive to use the method over natural births. C-sections are pricier, but they require fewer doctors, less time, and fewer unexpected circumstances. Factor in the mother's reluctance for painful natural births, and bingo! Doctors, however, maintain that natural births are safer than elective C-sections, and the recommended rate should hover around 15%. more ›

China has the highest rate of births by Cesarean sections in the world: between 2007-8, 46% of births were C-sections, nearly twice the rate as the rest of Asia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average worldwide rate falls around a quarter of all births, which means that half of such operations in the mainland are chosen when medically unnecessary. more ›

Bucking tradition, Shanghainese parents are agreeing to have more female children and causing the boy-heavy gender imbalance in the city to decline for the first time in eight years. Boys are now only born 114.8 to every 100 girls, down from 115.2 in 2007. The natural ratio for boy to girl births: around 105:100. Okay, so it's still a ways off from reflecting nature, but any improvement at all is good news for womenfolk (and the menfolk who pursue them). Even better, it seems that the city influences migrant workers - their male:female birth ratio fell from 123.4:100 to a significantly lower 121.9:100. Source: Xinhua more ›

This is just waaaaay too cute. If these three videos aren't enough for you, then hop over to Life in the Fast Lane for more amazing pictures and videos of baby pandas from day 1 to day 120 of their birth that made us keel over from an overdose of cuteness. Have a fabulous Thursday, Shanghai.... more ›

A Xinhua report dated Jan 11 tells us of a problem we all knew was bound to happen — that there will be MANY lonely Chinese men in the years to come. more ›

Shanghai's population can be hard to pin down, with popular numbers including 13 million, the registered total, 17 million, the official figure, and 20 million, the oft-speculated "real" number. The one fact that is easy to find, however, is that in 2004 Shanghai's "natural" population growth (new births minus deaths) hit zero for the first time in a decade. In 1994, Shanghai became the first city in China to record a negative natural population growth (i.e. more deaths than births), a trend that has continued for the past ten years. Why the celebration? Ever since the implementation of the one-child policy in 1979, China's population has been aging rapidly, and, as Japan and Germany have demonstrated, that can be problematic. An aging population, which strains the health-care system while starving other sectors of needed workers, has been one of the major arguments against the one-child policy. Shanghaiist, though, believes it'll be a long time before anyone feels lonely in Shanghai. Even though some of the numbers attached to the policy are quite disturbing, we bet young couples searching for a make-out spot will still find themselves fighting for bench space in Shanghai's increasingly crowded public parks. more ›