A woman in central China has been prosecuted for selling her newborn baby for $7,000, state media reports said, the latest of a string of shocking cases that have shed light on the country’s trade in children.
The 30-year-old woman, surnamed Huang, allegedly colluded with an obstetrician, Yang, in Xinxiang county, Henan province, to sell the baby boy, according to details published in the Procuratorial Daily, a legal publication.
Yang sold the baby boy to a couple in the same county for 42,000 yuan. She gave 35,000 yuan to Huang and kept 7,000 yuan for herself, the report said.
The case came to light in August after the boy’s grandmother alerted police.
The grandmother said Huang had left the village to go to her parents’ home after quarreling with her husband.
When Huang returned two weeks later, she said the baby had died but the grandmother grew suspicious as her daughter-in-law didn’t seem sad. A relative then discovered that the boy had been sold.
Huang had a son from a previous marriage and thought a new baby would be bad for the elder child, reports said.
The boy is now in the care of his father’s family.
Child trafficking is a long-standing problem in China. A traditional preference for sons and the country’s one-child policy means that boys are particularly prized.
Earlier this month, a Chinese man who was abducted from a vegetable market as a toddler enjoyed an emotional reunion with his father after 24 years apart.
The news came the same week police said they had busted a trafficking ring involving at least 103 people, and rescued 37 newborn babies that were transported in handbags and suitcases to prospective buyers.
According to the U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, China does not fully comply with the recommended minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, the report says it is making significant efforts to do.