[jluetjen]

A couple of other pieces of information...
1) According to our Chinese (PRC citizens) neighbors, China is now making it harder for American's to adopt. They said it's much harder if you're not married, or not in good health, etc etc.

2) The deal with Girls in China is just not just the fact that they're cute, and the One-Child policy, although that policy has a lot to do with it. It also has to do with a culture in which the first born son is responsible for looking after the parents in their old age. Daughters are ultimately married off and become part of another family, and responsible to that family, rather then her own. The tradition is that the groom needs to "buy" the wife with a dowery. This is the broad-brush description of cultural tradition, and not necessarily completely subscribed to by everyone, but it is generally more so in the country. This is why you hear about girl fetuses being aborted, or in some cases killed soon after birth. To ensure that the parents have a retirement plan.

Remember, China is not a "socialist" society in the fashion of the Europeans. There basically is no social security system. People live during their retirements (if they can retire) on their savings, and the support of their offspring. I heard on the BBC this morning about how Chinese construction workers are paid:

1) They are paid in full when the job is completed.
2) They live on the construction site in dorm trailers (chances are they have to pay for this arrangement, but it was not mentioned on the piece).
3) The construction runs 7x24, with the workers working their shifts 7 days a week.
4) There is no pension or retirement plan.

So that's the kind of environment which results in a lot of female chinese babies being abandoned (if they're lucky) into orphanages. Unless a family is well-off, if they're going to have only one child, they generally make sure it's a boy.