http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/16/1895654.aspx
for the comments:
China’s one-child policy has resulted in numerous legal and social problems. Female babies are killed because the family hoped for a boy. The statistical difference between the number of available women for men of marrying age is cause for alarm…there aren’t enough women to go around anymore. Will these women then be sold to the highest bidder like their male infant counterparts? The trafficking of women is also a huge problem in China. The Chinese government’s lack of real concern in stopping the illegal theft and sale of baby boys is disgusting. I’ve seen news stories on families such as were described in the article and it’s heart breaking to know that most of these missing children will never be back with their parents. I don’t know how the “baby brokers” who are in reality immoral pirates, can even live with themselves. I’m not even going to begin to address the disturbing $73 fee that may be paid to a mother for her baby. That’s the price of an average dinner for two (no wine even!) in America. I have no idea what $73 could mean to an impoverished woman in China but it breaks my heart to know someone would accept it let alone pay it. But the crux of the article wasn’t babies being sold by their mothers, it was babies being STOLEN from them. And that the country’s lack of enforcement allows these kidnapping scums to continue in their trade goes against everything that truly civilized people hold dear. The sanctity of family is outweighed by the government’s ability to control the most biological need that exists in humans…the desire for children. Good to know that the government will crack down on the trafficking of women and children between now and December this year. Hmmmm, what happens come January, 2010? Business as usual, I’d bet.
Debbi Bakke, Covina, CA (Sent Thursday, April 16, 2009 9:43 PM)
I don’t understand how the 1-Child policy has to do with this. If someone is going to break the law and kidnap a child, why don’t they just break the law and have another baby. I’m sure hiding a belly for 9 months can’t be much harder than hiding a second child for 18 years.
Given the US rate of missing kids from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (missingkids.com), these chinese kids are orders of magnitudes safer from kidnapping than their American counterparts.
John Doe, Seattle, Wash. (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 1:45 AM)
The creator of “Baby Come Home” should add information in English. Some of these children could have been taken overseas to countries like America. Americans love to adopt Chinese children, but may do so not realizing that the child has actually been stolen from their parents.
This is a heartbreaking story. I can’t imagine losing a child like this.
A. W., Boise, ID (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 10:56 AM)
Thanks for John Doe from Seatle Washinton.
People outside of china always criticize the one-child policy. They don’t think it carefully. Think about what would happen if US population is not 0.3 billion but 1.3 billion. Think about global warming and species extinction. Think about someday one Chinese consumes as much as one American.
I would say if it’s not this one-child policy, there would be way more children stolen today, way more children dead even without being stolen. Think about the difference between abortion and delivering a baby into a tragic world.
Just fed up with this kind of hypocritical arguments about chinese one-child policy, which is based on science not nonsense!
I always think US immigration policy is the best one US offered to the world and one-child policy is the best China contributed to the human history.
Think about it.
Julie Hicks, Chester, VA (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 8:38 AM)
This is totally insane, if simply from the point of logic. If a couple is mainly concerned for carrying on “their blood line”, buying a male child does nothing to satisfy their desire. But, then again, I have never understood the Chinese mentality.
If a stolen child has been adopted by an American couple, it would be necessary to have a Chinese official involved, because proper birth records must be produced. Those birth records are kept as manual records in a bound book, so an official must have created a false entry in a book in the correct chronological order of the book. This is very difficult to accomplish in a country, where most records are kept in the manual fashion, as is customary in rural areas of China. But, even if the records were created in an automated system, a government official must be involved.
Merrill, Las Vegas NV (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 9:17 AM)
This can happen anywhere, but it can get worse in China, a place where the population is exploding (thus the human value becomes lessened) plus the country – after so long being under cruel Communist rule – has abandoned many religious beliefs which serve as natural moral foundation for the human being. People there are brainwashed and lived like robot. Look at how the Chinese government (and some Chineses) have destroyed the Tibetan cultural treasure. Look at how they treat Christian or whoever dares to cling to the Bible … They have endangered environment by running their businesses in a very irresponsibly methodology.
Dat Pham, San Antonio, Texas (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 9:20 AM)
It is sad to see how many of us fall for such propaganda. The problem China has is nothing worse then any country in the world, including us here in the US of A. I only see one reason for this article in American media, propaganda. Make Chinese look bad so people don’t pay attention to all the problems we have here at home. Has anyone ever gone to Down Town LA, Chicago, NY, Detroit, and many more. In some parts of the city, you will be lucky to come out alive after dark. Stop trying to make them look bad and take care of the problems at home.
sid green (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 9:24 AM)
Being the third generation to a Chinese immigrant; this problem of child kidnapping and child selling hits to close to home. Being female; I know that I am lucky my Great Grand Father made the decision to to come to American. Had he not; I would have been sold being an undesired female.
As for the 1 Child Law; becuase the ration is approximately 10 males to 1 female; (not sure of the new stats) the law for the most has been over turned.
Yes we have a problem here in American with child kidnappings; but the scale to which it happens here; is nothing compared to the scale it happens in China and other Asian countries.
3rd Generation, Migrant, America (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 9:33 AM)
This is something that is happening all across the world. Human trafficking is big business especially when it comes to the transnational element. In Africa, children are sold for a fish. In India, children are forced into brothels, same with Asian countries as the demand for young children to perform sexual acts is high. Exploitation takes many forms, not just against children but women and men as well. Victims are exploited for purposes of labor, sexual exploitation, debt bondage, body parts and human sacrifice. All across both poor and developing nations does this problem exist. And it IS America’s problem as many of these victims end up in the United States in positions of forced labor and prostitution. Why? Our citizens have the money to pay for these services. Traffickers know the routes to take to abduct or coerce a victim out of their home country and use the same routes as narcotics traffickers and terrorists. Human trafficking is a multi billion dollar business which in turn funds other crimes against persons. The US population doesn’t know enough about this, we need to educate people on prevention, protection and prosecution efforts to stop this horrible crime.
SR, CT (Sent Friday, April 17, 2009 10:13 AM)
Child kidnapping isn’t limited soley to China. A child is trafficked WORLDWIDE every TWO MINUTES. It’s about time people open up their eyes and realize we’ve got an issue that needs to be dealt with. It’s complex, you have to not only dig at other government’s laws, but you have to reconfigure the way the culture as a whole values their children. After spending more than a month working at a shelter for trafficked women and children in Cambodia, I can honestly say that this problem is much more complex than any research shows and doesn’t have an easy solution. How can you get involved? Become aware: NotForSaleCampaign.org.
I am not for sale. You are not for sale. Nobody should ever be for sale.