A complex network of companies, middlemen and clinics in mainland China and Hong Kong is carrying on a roaring trade in on-the-quiet prenatal testing to determine the gender of fetuses for Chinese couples, a practice that is banned on the mainland because of its association with sex-selective abortion, RFA has learned. According to government figures for last year, China is home to 34 million more men than women, reflecting the longer-term effects of selective abortion, abandoned baby girls, and the country's family planning restrictions.
China's population stood at 1.38 billion at the end of last year, according to official statistics released last month, of whom 708 million are men and 674 million are women. In 2014, officials described the gender imbalance as the "most serious" problem, outlawing gender testing of unborn babies in a bid to make sex-selective abortions less common.
