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Baby Tower

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baby tower in Fuzhou, Fujian Province

A baby tower, also known as an abandoned infant tower or baby girl tower, is an architectural structure found in various places in ancient China.[1] They would typically take the form of a small stone or brick tower with an opening on the top. Dead, disabled, female, and unwanted infants could be thrown inside and abandoned. The baby tower is described as a donation from wealthy people in the countryside, as a more humane alternative to drowning babies in a river, common at the time.[citation needed] The pagoda architectural style is intended to suppress the spirit of the children, to prevent them from being reincarnated.[2]

Gender selection of children in China has been an issue for a long time due to the undesirability of female children in the Chinese patriarchal society, and the perception of male children as being more valuable for work, especially among peasants.

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Works cited

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  • Lee, Bernice J. (1981). "Female Infanticide in China". Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques. 8 (3): 163–177. JSTOR 41298766.