Vampires in China?

China has the highest population in the world. They rank #1 by having a population of 1,397,897,720. Within this enormous population, the male to female ratio is skewed. 723.34 million are men, or  51.24% of the total population, while the female population is only 688.44 million, or 48.68%.

Due to the overpopulation, China has a one-child policy. Investopedia states that “if you have more than one child you would be fined, forced to have abortions or sterilizations, and lose your jobs.” In the Chinese culture they believe that men are superior to women. The New York Times says that “discrimination against women is on the rise. From the womb to the workplace, from the political arena to the home, women in China are losing ground at every turn.” Chinese women are being scrutinized in the workplace. Pregnancy is frowned upon, and many women gaining jobs must sign a contract that they will not get pregnant. In some places pregnancy results in being fired. In many cases, this dislike of women and the one child policy leads to the smuggling of blood.

We have seen many countries, throughout the years, try and swerve their way around the rules about finding out their baby’s sex. Smuggling blood is for sure at the top of the list. CNN proclaims that “women are breaking the law to find out their babies’ sex.” One Friday in July 2017,  border security  found out that women were breaking laws in China. An older woman was acting strangely, walking in an unusual manner. The security searched her and found blood vials in her bra.  Every vial belonged to a pregnant woman from China. She was trying to cross the border separating the mainland city of Shenzhen from Hong Kong. Four days later, another woman was caught smuggling blood. “There were 203 of them, wrapped in plastic bags. Because of the heat, the blood had started to decay.”  

A Hong Kong security company found out that these women were mules who were being paid 100 to 300 RMB ($14 to $42) to smuggle blood to Hong Kong to test the blood to find the gender of the baby and then send the results to the parents. The first thing you should ask yourself is why is this happening? Blood smuggling is not only a result of the dislike of women and the one child policy, but it is also a result of gender-testing being forbidden. Women in China are desperate to find out whether they’re having a boy or a girl, so Chinese parents look for sites like Weibo to help find the sex of their baby.

Clara Burgess, an avid pro-choice advocate, believes that “these women should have a right to their bodies and what they do with it,” but she also believes that “killing a baby just because of its gender is pushing it, even if boys are considered superior in China.”

Cora Perkins, an empowered woman, says she “understands the pressure they are under due to the one child policy. The Chinese culture hold men so highly so it puts pressure on parents; especially mothers.”

Weibo is a Chinese microblogging site similar to twitter or other social media platforms we use in the United States. Weibo was launched on August 14, 2009 by the Sina Corporation. It is a controversial site, but is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 445 million monthly users. Weibo means “micro blog” in Chinese.