When the child was 18-days-old, the baby’s father ‘A Duan’ and mother ‘Xiao Mei’ — their names have been changed — used the popular messaging app QQ to sell the baby. The father of the child reportedly found a buyer on the social media and negotiated the entire deal without the consent of the child’s biological mother. The buyer allegedly said he was purchasing the child for his sister. The child is currently living with the man’s sister, as the biological parents are unable to raise the child due to their poor economic conditions. The biological mother reportedly worked many part-time jobs while the father spent his time in internet cafes. The couple met at work back in 2013 and, after plans for their marriage were shelved with neither party meeting the legal age, their child was born following an unwanted pregnancy. Both parents were 19 at the time and being short of money, they were finding their young daughter a financial burden, so A Duan was keen to sell her in order to purchase material goods. The parents, from Tongan, in the eastern coastal province of Fujian, sold the child a year ago, according to the Xiamen Daily News. The original father was arrested after the “new father” handed himself into authorities. A Duan was handed a three-year jail term. The baby’s biological mother was tracked down by police investigating the illegal sale. “I myself was adopted, and many people in my hometown send their kids to other people to raise them. I really didn’t know it was illegal,” she said, according to London newspaper The Telegraph. Mei has received a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence, the report said. Child trafficking has been a long-standing problem in China, but despite the efforts of the authorities, the sinister practice is thriving, leading to thousands of families being torn apart. According to the Chinese media, as many as 2,00,000 boys and girls are kidnapped in China every year and sold openly online.
