高昂的房价和经济发展已开始削弱中国重男轻女的传统风气，越来越多的父母表示更喜欢女儿。
近几十年来，中国实行的独生子女政策加重了沿袭许多世纪的重男风气，导致几百万女婴被遗弃、堕胎或杀死。
然而，随着城市化加大了养育男继承人的成本，同时削弱了有儿子的优势（下田劳作，以及赡养年老的父母），人们的传统观念——在中国，女孩被认为多余的，许多中国女孩被海外收养——正变得过时。
根据世界银行(World Bank)近期发布的一份报告，北京和一些省份的性别失调程度已于1995年达到峰值，此后有所减弱。还有一些省份也于2000年出现类似趋势，人们因此产生了这样的希望：在对待女性后代方面，中国整体上可能已经发生了转变。
在网上，妇女们讨论怎样才能怀上女孩的聊天群越来越多。
房价不断上涨推动了这种变化，本周一开始的十年一次的人口普查预期将证实这一点，因为按照中国家庭的传统，在儿子结婚前必须给他置办好房子。
浙江浦江县的张爱琴（音译）表示："我和我老公都挣得不多，要是生一个儿子，我们哪有能力给他买房。"
定居上海的山西人张芸（音译）表示："不光是一套房子的问题。"她指出还有男孩的教育和结婚成本。"儿子会带来经济压力……而女儿在妈妈老时可是'妈妈的小棉袄'"。她引用这句中国老话，来说明现在许多城里人都认为女儿比较贴心，更善于照顾老人。
传统上，儿子会受到偏爱——许多农村地区仍存在这种风气——因为只有儿子才能延续姓氏。
"你要是生了一个女儿，整个家族都会看不起你。"27岁的张芸表示，她自己就是一个多余的女儿。她说，在她的整个童年时期，她祖母都无视她，就因为她是个女孩。"这可能是我现在想要一个女孩的原因之一。"
译者/杨远
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001035300
High property prices and economic development have begun to erode China's traditional preference for sons, leading to a rise in the number of Chinese parents who say they would prefer a daughter.
The centuries-old cultural preference for boys was exacerbated in recent decades by China's "one child" policy, which led to the abandonment, abortion or infanticide of millions of girls.
But the conventional wisdom – that China is a land of unwanted girls, many of them sent overseas for adoption – is being turned on its head as urbanisation increases the cost of raising male heirs and erodes the advantage of having sons to work the fields and support parents in their dotage.
According to a recent World Bank report, the gender imbalance favouring boys peaked in Beijing and a few provinces in 1995 and has fallen since then. Additional provinces saw a similar trend in 2000, raising expectations that the country as a whole may have turned a corner with regard to female offspring.
Internet chat groups have sprang up where women exchange advice on how to conceive girls.
Rising property prices are driving the change, which is expected to be confirmed by China's once-a-decade census that started on Monday, because Chinese families must traditionally buy a flat for a son before he can marry.
"My husband and I don't earn much and I can't imagine how we can buy a flat for a son," says Zhang Aiqin of Pujiang in Zhejiang province.
"And it is not only a flat," says Zhang Yun, a Shanxi province native who lives in Shanghai, alluding to the cost of educating and marrying off a boy. "Sons bring economic pressure ... [but] 'a daughter is a warm jacket for a mother' when she is old," she says, quoting an ancient Chinese idiom to illustrate the fact that many urbanised Chinese think daughters are better caregivers.
Traditionally, sons were preferred – and still are, in some rural areas – because only they can carry the family name.
"If you gave birth to a girl, the whole family would look down on you," says Zhang Yun, 27, herself an unwanted daughter. She says her paternal grandmother ignored her throughout her childhood because she was a girl. "That could be one reason I want a girl now," she says.
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