The era of China’s one-child policy, recently rescinded, has inevitably had its effects. The gender balance has been skewed. The ratio of men to women is out of porportion in China.
It is estimated that there will be 30 million eligible bachelors in China by 2020. That is a large number, considering the male to female ratio is approximately 110 girls for every 117 boys.
So what to do about this imbalance? Xie Zuoshi, an economics professor at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, has offered a Jonathan Swift-ish style “modest proposal.”
The proposal: Polyandry!
What is polyandry? It is polygamy’s fraternal twin. Instead of a man taking on several wives, the woman takes on several husbands.
Big wedding guaranteed.
The rationale includes the argument that this would help men with lower incomes — supposedly those who do not have sufficient income to attract a wife — and that perhaps sharing the wealth (and the wife) with another man would increase one’s appeal.
According to Xie’s blog, “High-income men can find a woman because they can pay a higher price. What about low-income men? One solution is to have several take a wife together.”
Xie’s proposal went viral, considered both offensive and practical, and has now been removed from his blog spot.
There doesn’t seem to be an imbalance here in Seattle, but if there was… ladies and gentlemen, what would you think? (end)