Continued from here ...

Astoundingly to me, the situation that has developed, one in which there are now far more men than women ... see this al Jazeera report for an idea of the present imbalance ... has not increased the value of females.

One would think ... okay -- I think ... that with so few potential mates for heterosexual males available, the ones that are around should be gaining status by the day. Apparently, however this is not the case.

As this article in the Washington Post points out:

More broadly, Western and Chinese researchers are concerned that the trend, and the unintended consequences of family planning policies, will reinforce a sense that the lives of little girls -- and the women they grow up to be -- are less valuable than those of boys and men.

"When the Chinese talk about the social consequences of this issue they always frame it as a problem for the poor men who can't find brides," said Susan Greenhalgh, an anthropologist at the University of California at Irvine, who has studied the sex ratio in China. "What about the girls? I see this issue as another step toward turning Chinese girls and women into commodities."

Word has it that now the Chinese government is waking up and deciding to tackle the issue of gender imbalance. Yeah ... right.

Here's a look at the plan:

As part of the action, the commission sent a team of about 50 people, including noted family planning workers and medical experts, to the vast western regions ... They will travel to five provinces and autonomous regions including north China's Hebei province and Inner Mongolia, as well as Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai in the northwest.

The team will give lectures on reproductive health and looking into the living and health conditions of girls in the regions. In addition, 300 girl school dropouts in those regions will receive donations of 500 yuan (60.4 US dollars) each from the team.

Can we count on how many levels this just doesn't jive? Can we hear any guesses on how long it would take "about 50 people" to get the word out in those areas listed?

It seems I'm so very unfortunately correct in my assumptions about female infanticide in China, so back to my original points ...

The Chinese government does not always tell the truth.

Their adoption program is not squeaky clean, transparent and totally above-board.

Female infanticide is the reason millions of girls and women who should be alive aren't.

Girls have little to no value in much of Chinese culture.

The new adoption rules have more to do with 'face' than reality, because even though baby girls are aborted or murdered by the millions there are still more born than are wanted, and thousands are abandoned each and every year. The six-thousand-something that Americans adopted in 2006 don't even begin to take up the slack.

I'd be very, very happy if someone can prove me wrong.