Fangfang (方方) was just a few days old when she was abandoned on a near-freezing New Year’s Day in north China.
However, she was relatively lucky. Unlike the many who are found dumped in train stations or toilets, her family left her at a safe, warm shelter.
Dozens of babies have been secretly dropped off at “baby safety islands” or “baby hatches” set up since late last year under a scheme aimed at protecting unwanted offspring.
Photo: Reuters
“We need to build these islands to protect children from further injury,” said Zhang Min (張民), head of a government-run orphanage in the northern coastal city of Tianjin, where Fangfang was found.
The babies there are dropped off in a cosy room with pink walls, a cradle and an incubator. Fangfang was left in a handbag on the floor.
Chinese media frequently report harrowing tales of babies being abandoned, a problem attributed to young mothers unaware they are pregnant, the birth of an unwanted girl in a society that puts greater value on boys or China’s strict family planning rules.
In one such case, a baby was found in a dumpster on the outskirts of Beijing — he did not survive. In another, firemen in eastern China rescued an abandoned newborn boy from a sewage pipe.
Chinese orphanages have seen a falling number of abandoned children since 2005, but officials estimate that about 10,000 unwanted children are still received each year.
An unknown number of abandoned babies are also adopted informally.
Orphanages in China were once overwhelmingly filled with girls due to the cultural preference for male heirs. The preference still exists, but it is much less prevalent as the world’s second-largest economy grows and the country becomes more wealthy. So the abandoned children now tend to be of both genders and are usually seriously sick or disabled.
Fangfang, the first baby to be left at the Tianjin hatch outside the gate of a city orphanage, has Down’s syndrome and congenital heart disease.
Government officials say baby hatches are needed because of the prevalence of illnesses and disabilities, which often mean the babies need immediate medical attention. Each province has to set up a minimum of two by the end of the year.
“With more and more disabled children, it could mean they die if we find them 10 minutes late,” said Ji Gang, an official with the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption.
Baby hatches have sparked concern among some who say the schme may encourage more parents to abandon babies. Some were busy when they opened under the media spotlight, but the numbers soon dropped off, welfare officials said.
“Child abandonment exists. Baby hatches won’t encourage more parents to abandon children,” social welfare expert Wang Zhenyao (王振耀) said. “They will only provide more accurate numbers.”
Welfare experts and officials say that although China has various charity funds and government health insurance schemes to help the sick and disabled, it suffers from a lack of a unified welfare system.
“If there were such a system, a lot of parents wouldn’t abandon their children,” Ji said. “We wouldn’t have to build so many baby hatches.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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
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