HAINAN, CHINA - PICTURES of smiling parents playing with their daughters adorn huge billboards all over Hainan.

They come with slogans such as 'giving birth to a male or female child is equally good' and 'daughters are also our nation's future'.

Welcome to the 'Care for Girls' country.

In 2003, China embarked on a national initiative to correct its grave gender imbalance and get its people to embrace their daughters.

In 2005, there were 118 boys to every 100 girls born in China. The normal ratio is between 103 and 107 boys to 100 girls.

In Hainan - with its off-the-charts imbalance of 136 boys to 100 girls in 2005 - family planning officials have introduced economic incentives, public education campaigns and other measures to persuade people to change their attitudes towards having daughters.

For example, a village couple with two daughters will receive a one-time payment of 4,000 yuan (S$800) - a year's salary for the average Hainan farmer.

Ms Li Ping, vice-chief of the province's Population and Family Planning Office, tells The Straits Times that these farmers also get free animal feed, seedlings and help to improve their harvest.

For those in financial difficulties, the government may even help them build a home.

Families with two daughters also get free medical treatment and a waiver of school fees for their children.

Says Ms Li: 'All these economic incentives are to help couples feel that they will be taken care of, even without sons.'

Girls from families with only two daughters also get preferential treatment when it comes to university applications.

They get an extra 10 points for their university entrance exams.

'One or two points can make a lot of difference when it comes to university admission,' explains Ms Li.

The Hainan authorities say they are coming down hard on sex-selective abortions.

Doctors can be fined, struck off the medical register and face other penalties if they are caught performing abortions for non-medical reasons.

Asked if rural folk are swayed by the Care for Girls campaign and its rewards, Ms Li says: 'We can't change people's attitudes towards daughters overnight, but we are seeing some results of our efforts.'

However, many villagers tell The Straits Times that they still pray and wish for a son.

BOY WANTED: Farmer Huang Wenlin (carrying his three-month-old daughter, Jingjing) hopes his next child will be a boy. Mr Huang, 42, has two daughters and says: 'Of course, I hope for a son to take care of us when we are old. Daughters have to look after their in-laws.' When asked if he would his wife to abort a female foetus, he says: 'How can we kill our own flesh and blood? If it's another girl, then it's our fate. We have no choice.' Mr Huang's wife, Wang Hui, 37, is on the extreme right. Their daughter, Xingxing, eight, is standing between Mr Huang's mum (left) and Madam Wang's aunt. --ST PHOTOS: WANG HUI FEN

Take Mr Huang Wenlin. The 42-year-old farmer has two daughters and is allowed one more child under Hainan's population policy.

He says: 'I want a son. Who doesn't want a son? But if my next child is a girl, it's our fate.'

Abortion is not an option.

He says: 'How can we kill our own flesh and blood? How can we answer to our conscience?'

When a son is born,
Let him sleep on the bed,
clothe him with fine clothes, and give him jade to play with.

When a daughter is born,
let her sleep on the ground,
wrap her in common wrappings, and give her broken tiles for playthings.

A POEM FROM THE BOOK OF SONGS, believed to date from 1000 to 700BC, offers this advice to new parents.