> The lack of marriageable women is a problem that can be solved by time. Men are prepared to marry at 40 if their work prospects are good.
This is a very naive conclusion. Human societies deal reasonably well with a large female:male ratio (usually after a war) but large male:female ratios usually leads to war, revolution, or unpleasant social changes like fast increases in violent crime rates and similar problems. This has happened in the past on smaller scales, but in this case you are talking about regions with 10s of millions of young men who have almost no chance at reaching the societal norm of a wife and child -- they are not going to be pleased when the reality of the situation starts to make itself apparent.
If men are prepared to wait until they are older and richer then you will find this cohort out-competing their younger, poorer peers for an ever-dwindling supply of young women. This just leads to a repetition of the cycle but with more and more competitors fighting over the pool of "resources."
This is not a situation that is just going to fix itself unless there is a radical change to family planning laws, societal norms, the role of women, etc. The only thing that can really be said is that the solution will be painful and its consequences could end up being quite far-reaching...
Do you have any idea how many women from Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. etc. etc. are DESPERATE to get into China? SOLELY for the purpose of latching onto a man? Even African women are trying to get in on the action.
Student visa my @$$! Not unless they are studying for an M-R-S degree!
I have seen this first hand.
A shortage of 30 or 40 million women?
Believe me when I tell you . . . the Chinese Government knows this won't be a problem.
I have been to China, but not to the regions we are talking about (and given your response I doubt you have been to these areas either.) While I am certain there are many women desperate to get into China for an MRS degree, I am also certain that they are looking for an educated upwardly-mobile man who has good future prospects; these women are not trying to get into China so that they can marry a poor, unskilled rural worker whose condition is no better than the one they left in the first place. It is this latter group who are screwed in this situation. These men have little to offer a prospective mate and the smaller pool of women have no need to settle for a local villager when they can gain the benefits of supply & demand working in their favor. Please explain why women from surrounding countries would consider a cross-cultural marriage to a man whose general poverty matches their own...
Do you have any idea how many women from Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. etc. etc. are DESPERATE to get into China? SOLELY for the purpose of latching onto a man?
North Korea is essentially a closed country. Of the few North Koreans that manage to escape, how many of them do you think are escaping primarily to find a husband?
I'd say none of them.
I probably should have specified South Korea originally. But the specification isn't really needed due to the closed nature of the north.
As for South Koreans, my original comment still stands. South Koreans look down on Chinese.
Islamic countries have already had this problem - what do you do when rich, powerful men have 4 wives, and female children are lower priority for food, medical care, etc, so there are already fewer of them and extra-marital sex is frowned on?
Well, many of those young men band together and go and live in the mountains... We call them Taliban.
This is a very naive conclusion. Human societies deal reasonably well with a large female:male ratio (usually after a war) but large male:female ratios usually leads to war, revolution, or unpleasant social changes like fast increases in violent crime rates and similar problems. This has happened in the past on smaller scales, but in this case you are talking about regions with 10s of millions of young men who have almost no chance at reaching the societal norm of a wife and child -- they are not going to be pleased when the reality of the situation starts to make itself apparent.
If men are prepared to wait until they are older and richer then you will find this cohort out-competing their younger, poorer peers for an ever-dwindling supply of young women. This just leads to a repetition of the cycle but with more and more competitors fighting over the pool of "resources."
This is not a situation that is just going to fix itself unless there is a radical change to family planning laws, societal norms, the role of women, etc. The only thing that can really be said is that the solution will be painful and its consequences could end up being quite far-reaching...