China's One-Child Policy Leads to Nation of Angry Men

China’s got a big problem, one of its own making. The nation's one-child policy, now 30 years old, has resulted in a land of angry, testosterone-filled young men unable to find wives, writes Mara Hvistendahl in the New Republic. Finally worried about the world's biggest gender imbalance and its related spike in crime, the government is "vainly" seeking solutions—one campaign makes the point that having a baby girl isn't so bad, after all— but the problem seems almost certain to get worse in coming years.

Professional matchmakers are attuned. “We'll see real problems in eight or 10 years,” one said. But sympathy is in short supply. “If they're ugly and can't find work, there's nothing I can do. No one wants them.” The youth seem to be impervious to the direness of the situation. “Our national ability to pick up chicks will reach heights unparalleled in human history,” read one recent Web post. (More China stories.)