China: Visiting a "Bachelor Village"

China’s deeply skewed sex ratio is expected to lead to a population of lifelong bachelors as large as the population of Texas by 2020. With fewer chances at parenthood under the one-child policy and the ancient preference for boys, the introduction of ultrasound technology has led families to selectively abort their girls. In China, 120 boys are born for every 100 girls. In some regions, the imbalance is as stark as 150 to 100. Some of these small rural hamlets have been nicknamed “bachelor villages” for their populations of single men.