Finally some good news on the gender imbalance front, if only in Shanghai. It seems that the city's population officials are increasingly optimistic about the boy-girl ratio now that it's implemented specific policies for migrant workers, the most likely group to contribute to the dearth of female infants. These policies include enhanced education, subsidies and more training opportunities for girls, as well as a ban on fetus sex checkups and abortions after 7 months (yes, China allows third-trimester abortions normally) unless there's a medical reason. Now officials say, more migrants are giving up the traditional "boys are best" mentality. more ›

Taobao - the place where you can buy everything... even, it seems, babies. An anonymous seller put an infant up for sale on the online auction site yesterday for the low price of 1RMB. Of no surprise to anyone who's read of unwanted babies in China - this one was a girl. more ›

The dearth of girl babies may have changed attitudes about the preference for boys, according to the Telegraph. Well... at least in Shanghai, where it seems like 15% of 3,500 parents questioned by government researchers actually copped to hoping for the fairer sex (as opposed to 12% for the opposing gender). Of course, once you go back out into the countryside, or any city that isn't Shanghai, you're still stuck with the same dilemma. What's worse, the reasons for having girl babies seem pretty economical and not very progressive. One mother says she'd prefer boys, but insinuates that having a girl means she won't have to find her child a good school, a good job, or a house and car. Another lady put it this way: "Girls can marry rich husbands." Jeepers. Looks like we still have a ways to go. more ›