6. Girls had a much higher mortality rate than did boys
In all ancient cultures, and indeed well into the twentieth century around the world, the chances of surviving into adulthood were problematic. Illnesses such as measles, mumps, smallpox, scarlet fever, typhoid, cholera, and many more claimed young lives. The flu was a common cause of death, as was infection from wounds not treated sanitarily. Working conditions could be and often were deadly, and poor nutrition, always a scourge of the poor, led to ill health and early deaths. The value placed on male children in Chinese society over that of females also contributed to a high rate of death among Chinese girls, since they were considered – literally and figuratively – to be property, as disposable as any other form of property at the whim of the owner.
Because girls were considered to be of lesser value, and because their upkeep could be a burden on the master of the house, they could be disposed of by killing them, usually by drowning them shortly after their birth. The practice was both accepted and condoned in society at all levels. The decision to dispose of the female infant was one made by the master of the house, not necessarily the father of the child. It could be made by his own father, under whose roof the family resided. Often the newborn girl was just abandoned, left alone at a remote site outside of the village or community into which it had recently been born. It was permissible, though evidently rare, for another family to claim the infant and take it into their home, perhaps for the purpose of selling it into slavery at a later age.