Chinanews, Beijing, August 21 – More and more young men in the villages near Mizhi, Shaanxi Province find it very difficult to take a wife nowadays. Some of them have had to spend 30,000 – 50,000 yuan to “buy” wives from other places. However, the sex imbalance is becoming even more severe, with more and more male babies born every year.Niujuanta is one of the “bachelor villages”. Its population is only 453, but there are 10 young men remain unmarried. It is tradition for local young men to get married in their early 20s. These young men are around 26, so it is not likely for them to marry local girls. However, their annual income is only 2,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan, not enough for them to afford even the betrothal gift for brides from other places.In Haojiaping, the neighboring village of Niujuanta, there are even more men who have not been able to find a wife, some of them being in their 40s or even 50s.Meanwhile, young women in these villages mostly have gone to work in cities, and will not marry local young men, most of whom are farmers.“Some of my friends are still repaying the debt that they owed when they got married several years ago,” said Niu, a local teacher.