Description
Kay Johnson has done groundbreaking research on abandonment and adoption in China. In Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son, Johnson untangles the complex interactions between these social practices and the governments population policies. She also documents the many unintended consequences, including the overcrowding of orphanages that led China to begin international adoptions.
Those touched by adoption from China want to know why so many healthy infant girls are in Chinese orphanages. This book provides the most thorough answer to date. Johnsons research overturns stereotypes and challenges the conventional wisdom on abandonment and adoption in modern China.
Certainly, as Johnson shows, many Chinese parents feel a great need for a son to carry on the family name and to care for them in their old age. At the same time, the governments strict population policy puts great pressure on parents to limit births. As a result, some parents are able to obtain a son only by resorting to
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