Chinese Professor Suggest That Poorer Men Should Share Wives

A Chinese professor's controversial suggestion that poorer men could share wives has sparked debate online on how to solve China's gender imbalance.

Zhejiang University economics professor Xie Zuoshi's proposal has been met with heavy criticism that it is immoral.
China has one of the biggest gender imbalances in the world, with about 118 boys born to every 100 girls.

The imbalance is largely due to the one-child policy and cultural preferences for male children.
Increasing wealth and population movement also means many women are leaving the countryside to work in cities, with men who stay behind struggling to find partners.

In a piece that was widely picked up by local media, Prof Xie noted there were reports that China could possibly have 30 to 40 million bachelors by 2020.
The huge demand for women and the lack of supply would result in the "value of women going up", he wrote.
"Men with high incomes will have an advantage in finding women, because they can afford the high price.
"And what about the low income men? One way is for several men to band together to find a wife. This isn't some pie-in-the-sky idea of mine. In some remote and poor areas there are cases where brothers jointly marry one wife, and they can live happily and harmoniously."