On January 7th, a well-known maternity and infant chain brand in mainland China, Ai Jia Postpartum Center, suddenly collapsed overnight. The stores closed down, leaving many pregnant women and maternity matrons in distress, facing difficulties in seeking justice. The company’s legal representative claimed bankruptcy due to poor management, but external doubts arose that it might be a case of embezzlement.
Ai Jia Postpartum Center was established by Jiangsu Aizhijia Maternal and Infant Service Group Co., Ltd., with over 80 total stores. Tianyancha data shows that Aizhijia Maternal and Infant was founded in May 2022 with a registered capital of 100 million yuan. The stores are located in provinces and cities such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, and Henan.
The entities involved in this incident include Ruiyingli (Jiangsu) Maternal and Infant Health Management Co., Ltd., Shanghai Ruiyingli Maternal and Infant Supplies Co., Ltd., Qingdao Cangxi Maternal and Infant Care Co., Ltd., and Guangdong Aizhijia Maternal and Infant Health Management Co., Ltd.
On January 7th, Wang Peiteng, the legal person of Ai Jia Postpartum Center, announced bankruptcy on the company’s social media platform, citing the company’s inability to sustain operations due to poor management and officially entering bankruptcy proceedings.
Pregnant women and hired maternity matrons who had paid room deposits to Ai Jia Postpartum Center found themselves at a loss with the sudden closure of the company’s stores across China. External observers widely questioned the bankruptcy claim.
In Shandong Qingdao, Fang Yan (alias) still had two months left until her due date. She had booked a room at Ai Jia Postpartum Center in Laoshan District in December last year. The salesperson informed her on the 7th that “the boss has fled,” leaving them to fend for themselves in seeking justice.
Fang Yan expressed disbelief upon hearing the news. Can a postpartum center also flee? When she made the reservation last year, the sales staff strongly recommended full payment to ensure room availability, especially since the rooms were in high demand due to promotional activities offering great value at 19,800 yuan, with almost full capacity during her two on-site inspections. She felt as if it was a setup to swindle money and leave everyone stranded there.
It is estimated that the deposit amounts for the two stores in Qingdao could reach millions of yuan.
In Shanghai’s Maqiao Town, pregnant Zhao Shuang (alias) with a due date in June had paid in full for a room priced at 37,600 yuan in December last year. She revealed that full payment was insisted upon at the time of booking, claiming no shortage of occupancy and predicting room price increases from 2025 onwards. The reason she paid in full was the salesperson’s assurance of a full refund in case of any mishaps.
She also disclosed that her friend was staying at the postpartum center. On the 7th, her friend was evicted. She was the first to receive news of the boss running away with the money, and Ai Jia Postpartum Center was still selling rooms on the day before the boss fled, even signing contracts for rooms.
She deemed Ai Jia’s actions as deception, stating, “When we first learned about the company’s evasiveness, upon arrival at the store, the staff were nowhere to be found, just pregnant women and maternity matrons left in panic, and some order was only restored when the police arrived.”
Xinhui (alias), a maternity matron at Ai Jia Postpartum Center in Ningbo, Zhejiang, learned from a chef on the morning of the 7th that the boss had fled. Subsequently, over twenty pregnant women and maternity matrons were ejected from the center by the landlord, prompting them to report the situation to the police. They were allowed to stay in a hotel for two days. On the third day, everyone sought their own solutions, with most opting to return to their hometowns.
She expressed, “We can’t afford to stay there (in the hotel). The government, police station, and petition office all pushed us around.”
On the 10th, she and dozens of other maternity matrons and pregnant women went to the district government to seek justice. However, they were met with a large number of police officers dispatched by the local government to suppress them, outnumbering the rights-seekers.
Zhao Shuang further revealed that pregnant women and maternity matrons from Ai Jia Postpartum Center in Maqiao Town, Shanghai were also expelled on the 7th. Moreover, one center experienced water and power cuts a day before the scandal broke, forcing them to order takeout for sustenance.
During the rights-seeking process in front of the government building, some maternity matrons were detained. She and other pregnant women at home received warnings from the police, preventing them from lodging complaints. The police even harassed them at home around 11 pm, and she heard of a pregnant woman going into premature labor due to the stress.
She added that the victims in Shanghai have been seeking justice but to no avail. Authorities have rejected their lawsuits, government departments turned a blind eye, media coverage ceased, and they faced online censorship.
Fang Yan noted that the rights-seeking efforts in Shandong were similar to those in Shanghai, with all departments visited, yet yielding no results. She expressed the urgency of raising awareness about the situation and hoped for the relevant government departments to intervene.
A maternity matron in Suzhou, Jiangsu, woke up on the 7th to find all other staff missing, leaving only maternity matrons and pregnant women behind, with many maternity matrons not receiving two to three months’ worth of wages.
She lamented, “The economy is tough now. We took these jobs to make ends meet, and now we can’t even get paid. With the Lunar New Year approaching, how can we go back? We have no travel expenses, children at home need tuition, we need to prepare for the New Year; it’s truly heartbreaking.”
According to reports from mainland media, as of January 8th, more than 600 consumers had voluntarily joined a rights advocacy group, with involved amounts exceeding tens of millions of yuan, while the number of victims continues to rise.