China has long been plagued by the crime of baby trafficking. Renowned mainland Chinese blogger Shang Guanzheng went undercover for several days and exposed an underground chain in Huaihua, Hunan province, where babies were being bought and sold through platforms like Xiaohongshu. During the process, Shang Guanzheng himself was temporarily detained by local police.
On November 1st, Shang Guanzheng posted, “After undercover work for several days, I have identified a human trafficker named Yuan hiding in Huaihua, Hunan. She uses Xiaohongshu to scout potential clients for buying and selling babies, posing as an adopter. She buys babies from young pregnant or postpartum girls at a low price and sells them at a high price, around 80,000 yuan each. She claims to be able to provide birth certificates to help whitewash identities. I have already reported this to the police!”
The post detailed several cases, including an 18-year-old girl named Li from Zhaotong, Yunnan, who traveled to Huaihua in July and gave birth to a baby girl in a local hospital. However, the vaccination records for the baby listed Yuan as the guardian. Yuan claimed that the baby girl was eventually sold for 85,000 yuan, but the buyer’s identity remains unknown.
Another case involved an 18-year-old girl from Inner Mongolia who gave birth to a baby girl in Huaihua on July 11th, named “Yuan Yiyi” and established a “mother-daughter relationship” with Yuan, who had the baby registered under her name. The birthdate of Yuan Yiyi was falsified in Yuan’s household register to March 16, 2025.
Yuan also purchased two other babies (a boy and a girl) named Yuan Rui and Yuan Qing, passing them off as twins, registered under her name. The children’s birth certificates indicated they were born on March 16, 2025, and the mother was Yuan, while the father was someone named Li. The birth hospital was listed as a certain People’s Hospital in Huaihua, with a birth certificate code starting with the letter “Y.”
According to Yuan’s household register, she had registered three babies under her name, the twins mentioned earlier, and the baby girl born to the 18-year-old girl from Inner Mongolia.
Yuan claimed to have connections within hospital staff to provide birth certificates from different locations, including medical records related to childbirth, to help disguise the babies’ identities. She boasted of successfully selling at least five babies, each fetching between 80,000 to 90,000 yuan.
Later that day, Shang Guanzheng posted again, stating, “At noon, I rescued the babies and apprehended two suspects. The director of Huaihua City South Police Station accused me of wrongdoing, forcibly confiscated my two phones, and had someone watch over me. Please pay attention to this.”
By the evening of the 1st, Shang Guanzheng posted again, confirming his safe departure from Huaihua and thanking netizens for their concern.
In another post, he mentioned, “In Huaihua, I am not a suspected criminal. During that time, the director of the Huaihua City Bureau asked for my phone back, but the staff at the Hecheng Sub-bureau, especially someone named Tian, had an extremely bad attitude and refused to return it until nearly 6 o’clock. I will make the relevant recordings public! With the approval of local leaders, I can inform everyone that three children have now been rescued.”
On the 2nd, Shang Guanzheng elaborated on his experiences on Weibo, detailing the events of the 1st. When he went to the City South Police Station to make an anonymous report, the station director accused him of violation under the pretext of “fishing law enforcement.” They confiscated his two phones, claimed it was for “investigation cooperation,” and had several people monitor him, detaining him for over 3 hours. During this time, individuals claiming to be from the Hecheng Branch and the publicity department of the Huaihua City Public Security Bureau engaged in negotiations with him.
Shang Guanzheng emphasized that he was a whistleblower, not a criminal suspect, saying, “I earnestly request accountability from Hunan!”
On November 2nd, the Huaihua City Public Security Bureau Hecheng Branch in Hunan reported on the incident, confirming that they received a report from the public about suspected baby trafficking. The police subsequently apprehended two suspects and notified the whistleblower to assist in the investigation, and so on.
The report mentioned that as of the evening of November 1st, four criminal suspects had been arrested, and three babies had been successfully rescued.
After the police report was released on the 2nd, Shang Guanzheng once again posted, “The report confirms my report as true, with the rescue of 3 babies and the arrest of 4 suspects. However, the station director found me violating the law on-site, seized my phones, and monitored me for over 3 hours, not even allowing me to use the restroom. The director of Huaihua City Bureau finally allowed the return of my phone, but the Hecheng Sub-bureau leadership refused. They said they would conduct a comprehensive investigation. Since leaving last night, there has been no contact from the Huaihua City side!”
Regarding this, mainland Chinese netizens expressed outrage, speculating about corruption and cover-ups, with some drawing parallels to the case of Luo Shuaiyu and the dark side of children’s organ transplants.
In May 2024, Luo Shuaiyu, a medical intern at Hunan Xiangya Second Hospital, died under mysterious circumstances, officially ruled as suicide by authorities. However, his parents discovered evidence of illegal activities related to organ trafficking within the hospital personnel from data recovered from his computer, suggesting that Luo Shuaiyu had encountered a dark chain involving child organ searches and might have been killed for refusing to cooperate.
Furthermore, some netizens mentioned the “Wild Child” incident in Yunnan, speculating, “Isn’t that wild child from Yunnan one of those purchased babies? Heard they were raised like dogs and live-streamed on the dark web to earn money, then sold in the end. No wonder there’s an industry chain for dehumanizing children, easily selling them off, let alone those who have contact with welfare institutions!”
(news translated and rewritten)