The 4-2-1 Family and The Surplus of Men

An important concern of China’s family structure is the overwhelming pressure from grandparents (over 60 years old) to their children and single grandchild. It is called the 4-2-1 families, and it consists of 4 grandparents, 2 adult children who are single-childs themselves, and their one child. 

According to studies of this family structure, these children amounted to 150 million heads by the end of 2007. The fact that there are so many only-childs bring rise to some social issues, which include population reproduction, sex ratio, population aging, and old-age support (Jiang, 2011). This post will talk about the implications of sex ratio to China as a society while the next post will cover old-age support. 
Sex ratio plays a key role in reproduction of a population. In China, since couples are only allowed to have one child, they prefer male over female child. This is due to the cultural value of patriarchy: people see females are inferior to males. People will do whatever they can to have a baby boy, whether it's infanticide or abortion. China has 32 million more males than females. The implications include:

• Increase in violence due to men's frustration of not having females around, crime rate goes up. 
• Increase in men engaging in prostitution, wealthier men may buy or bid for wives.
• Men find difficulties finding wives, difficulty in creating offspring and creating family line. 
• While in this frustration, they have to remember they're the '1' in the '4-2-1' structure, which means they will more likely go through it alone. 

This gender imbalance is a social issue, and it will become worse and worse in the future as China's gender becomes more and more patriarchal. The fortunate ones can have wives and children, but what about those who don't? 

Reference:

Jiang, Q., & Sánchez-Barricarte, J. (2011). The 4-2-1 family structure in China: a survival analysis based on life tables. European Journal Of Ageing, 8(2), 119-127.

Xie BG (2000) The essence of Chinese filial piety. Shanghai

Academy Social Science Press, Shangha