城市生存壓力大 年輕父母更願意生女孩

A growing number of parents are eschewing tradition and attempting to ensure that their second child is female.

越來越多的中國家長正在避開傳統，嘗試確保自己的二胎是女孩。

Liu Min lay on the bed quietly, looking at her newborn second son. Despite her joy, she felt a sense of loss - because she had failed to have a daughter.

劉敏靜靜地躺在牀上，看着她剛出生的第二個兒子。儘管很開心，但她覺得若有所失--因爲她沒得到一個女兒。

Four years ago, the 31-year-old Beijing resident gave birth to her first son.

四年前，這位31歲的北京居民生了第一個兒子。

To care for him, Liu resigned her job in the legal department of an insurance company, sacrificing an annual salary of 200,000 yuan ($29,500).

爲了照顧兒子，劉女士辭去了自己在保險公司法務部門的工作，犧牲了20萬的年薪（摺合29500美元）。

When the "one-child policy" was phased out last year, Liu and her husband decided to have another child. They had another boy.

去年，獨生子女政策取消後，劉敏和她的丈夫決定再要一個孩子。於是他們有了第二個兒子。

"Although having a second child made life more difficult and increased the pressure on us, we still want to have a daughter," she said.

她說：“儘管二胎讓生活更加艱難，增加了我們的壓力，但是我們還想要一個女兒。”

While her "obsession" with having a daughter is "a challenge to my parents' patriarchal ideology", she is more concerned about the pressures of modern life: "In Beijing, the average home can cost from 5 million to 10 million yuan. I worry about the cost of education, marriage and homes for my sons in the future."

儘管她對女兒的癡迷是對父輩“父權意識形態”的挑戰，但她更憂心的是現代生活的壓力：“在北京，住宅均價500萬到1000萬。我擔心兒子未來的教育、婚姻和置家費用。”

Liu was born in Ding'an county, Hainan, China's southernmost province, in 1985. She was the family's fourth daughter.

1985年，劉女士出生於中國最南端的海南省定安縣。她是家裏的第四個女孩。

Her infant name was Zhao Di, meaning "bringing a younger brother", which she was given because "my parents especially wanted a son (next time around)".

她的嬰兒名是招弟，意思是給家裏帶來一個更小的弟弟，她之所以被這樣命名，是因爲父母很想下次要一個兒子。

When she was 2, her family had a fifth child - a boy.

當她兩歲的時候，家裏有了第五個孩子--一個男孩。

"When my brother was born, my family invited all our relatives and neighbors to a feast. We lit firecrackers all day," she recalled. "In the traditional view of people in my hometown, only boys can keep the family line alive."

她回憶道：“當我的弟弟出生時，我的家人宴請了所有的親戚和鄰居。我們放了一天爆竹。在我們家鄉人的傳統觀念裏，只有男孩能延續香火。”