The survey by the Zhejiang Provincial Commission for Population and Family Planning and the local statistics bureau showed that 18.6 percent of women would prefer a daughter, while 17.09 percent women still want a son.

The survey picked 11,954 would-be mothers of whom urban women made up 47.02 percent and rural women 52.98 percent.

Yao Qiwei, a gynecologist in an obstetric hospital attached to Medical Institute of Zhejiang University, said more Chinese women no longer cared about the gender of their children, believing thatboth boys and girls would bring happiness.

With the country's economic development and cultural changes, China's long-held idea that "more children means more fortune" has also changed. The survey showed that about 44.9 percent of women in Zhejiang wanted only one child.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2003)