Police in northern China have broken up a gang that sold 76 infants abducted from hospitals, some just hours after they were born, newspapers reported yesterday.
The case was unusually large even by the standards of China's thriving black market in stolen babies, which is driven in part by a birth control policy that limits most couples to one child.
In the latest case, 95 people have been arrested in the city of Hohot, capital of the Inner Mongolia region, on charges of taking the babies from 28 clinics and hospitals over the past 18 months, the Beijing News said. It said they were sold in four provinces.
Many of the babies were bought from clinics and were born to migrant women, college students and other unmarried mothers, the Shanghai Youth Daily reported, suggesting that some of the babies were sold by their parents.
Experts say a baby can cost as little as 800 yuan (US$100) and registering one as adopted doesn't trigger heavy fines imposed under China's strict ``one child'' rule. Announcements of arrests often say traffickers are caught with dozens of infants.
Some buyers already have a daughter and want a son in a society that favors boys. Others are looking for future brides for sons.
The leader of the Hohot gang was identified as Ren Suyan, 43, but the Beijing News didn't give the names or any details about the others.
The first arrests took place May 11 in Hohot, the newspaper said. It said the babies were abducted anywhere from two hours to five days after birth, but didn't say whether hospital employees were involved or for what price they were sold.
Police who arrested Ren found a book with information on when each baby was abducted and where it was sold, the newspaper said. It didn't say whether any of the infants had been recovered.
In some cases of child abduction, authorities say they often can't find the parents, leaving recovered children to be raised in orphanages. In other instances, the babies are sold by impoverished parents who don't come forward for fear of punishment.
The scale of China's baby trade isn't clear, but the Justice Ministry says a three-month-long nationwide crackdown in 2000 resulted in the rescue of 10,000 babies.
China's birth control rules prompt some parents to kill baby girls in hopes of trying again for a boy. Experts say this is leading to a lopsided sex ratio among child-ren, which will only increase demand for abducted girls as wives in coming years.
In one highly publicized case last year, 28 baby girls, all under three months old, were found packed in nylon tote bags aboard a long-distance bus in the southern region of Guangxi.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese