A woman in Fujian province recently made headlines after it was discovered that she had fraudulently sold her two biological sons. She was ultimately sentenced to 5 years and 2 months in prison for charges of fraud and child trafficking, sparking public concern after the news spread online.
According to a report by CCTV, the 26-year-old woman, named Huang, had been adopted at a young age and dropped out of school after completing primary education. Several years ago, she moved to Fuzhou with fellow villagers to seek work as a day laborer to make a living.
In 2020, Huang, in her early twenties, became pregnant after a relationship and gave birth to a baby boy at a hospital in Fuzhou. Unable to care for the child and unsure of the father’s identity, she sold her son to Wei, her landlord’s relative, for 45,000 RMB upon discharge from the hospital. Wei’s son, Li, was unable to have children and had long desired to adopt a child.
In 2022, Huang became pregnant again without knowing the father’s identity. Once more, she sold her second child to an intermediary named Zhuo for 38,000 RMB. Zhuo then resold the infant for 103,000 RMB.
On April 13, 2022, Huang was reported by victims for online fraud, leading to the discovery of messages on her phone related to child selling during the investigation.
Claiming that she couldn’t afford an abortion and lacked the means to raise the children, Huang explained that she didn’t know the fathers of her sons. She confessed that the over 80,000 RMB earned from the sales was spent on buying clothes and gifting game streamers.
On July 8, 2024, Huang was sentenced to 5 years and 2 months in prison for charges of fraud and child trafficking, with an additional fine of 30,000 RMB. The two buyers involved in the case received sentences of 9 months’ probation and 1 year, and 7 months respectively.
The news of Huang’s case went viral on Weibo on July 6, drawing widespread attention and condemnation from netizens.