China's Stolen Children

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Last night I was channel surfing and came across a documentary on HBO called China's Stolen Children. It was an interesting program about child traffickers. Apparently the one child law in China has helped bring major business to child traffickers. One couple, for example had a baby girl. Becuase the couple was not married they did not have a birth permit, and therefore could not legally have a child. The hospital would not even document the birth and provide the couple with a birth certificate. So, the couple had to "get rid" of their baby girl. The most humane way they could think of to "get rid" of their daughter was to sell her. So they contacted a child trafficker who informed them that becuause the baby was a girl, they could obtain as much as 4000 RMB or 200 British pounds( $400) for her from a wealthy family and even more for her from a poor family. Poor families tend to pay more because they really want the child and couples are less likely to sell to a poor family. The unmarried couple felt that it would be best for their daughter to go to a wealthy family even if they did not get as much money for her. Fortunately, this couple did not really want to give up their baby, so it was more important for them to sell their child to a rich family for less money.

According to the trafficker, the demand for Chinese babies and young children is high. Therefore, they kidnap young children, preferably between the ages or seven months and four years old so they may sell them for about 3000 ($440) to 10,000 RMB ($1468). The trafficker described how he sold one of his own children just becuase he needed the money. He also described how he kidnapped a young boy whose mother was single. She left her home while the child was sleeping. The trafficker broke in, stole the child, and later sold him. The trafficker explained that they prefer children between the ages of seven months and four years, because this age group is easier to intergrate into a new family and they do not know how to find their way back home so they won't one away from the buyers.

Some poor parents who need money will sell their children for the money. Also, young girls around the ages of 12 to 20 are in high demand as well. Becuase of the one child law, many parents choose to only have a boy. This creates a shortage of women for young men (and even older men) to wed. The trafficker explained that parents will pay him a nice some of money to find a sweet young obedient girl for their son to marry. Or an older man may purchase a young girl to be his bride. Girls are also purchased so they can become prositutes.

The documentary shows one couple who is reunited with their kidnapped son. However, this does not occur for most parents. Many parents are not able to find their children.

One family, whose daugter was sold so that she could be someone's wife or a prostitute, was able to get her back. They contacted a dective who recaptures children for the purpose of taking them back to their families.

This is an interesting and sad documentary. However, it is one that we all should watch and learn about so that we could do something about it. Of course human traficking is against the law in China, but like drugs, there is such a high demand for children that it has become a lucrative business for heartless money lovers. These traffickers have no concern or compassion for children. They are only interested in making money. Watching this documentary was an eye-opening experience for me. It may also be an interesting documentary to show to students who are of high school age. I think younger than that would be too tramatic.

China's Stolen Children is a film that saddens my spirit, but it also inspires me to act. There are some websites that cater to stopping child trafficking which I plan to investigate further. Also there is a trailer about the documentary at http://www.truevisiontv.com/china.htm. [Edit by="sreid on Jul 16, 2:07:28 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I also watched The Dying Rooms, which is another documentary. This documentary was produced in 1995. It can also be viewed by going to http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/archive/the_dying_room.html. This film saddened me more than China's Stolen Children. I decided to watch it after reading more material from the internet about China's Stolen Children. According to the information I read, this film provoked individuals to save these children by adopting them. Thus, creating a demand for the adoption of Chinese girls, which unfortunately led to the increase of child trafficking. However, the true problem seems to be the one child law. Because many Chinese favor having a male child, girls are born without documentation and later abandoned so the couple can try for a boy. The ultimate tragedy is the horrendous disregard for human life. A girl's life seems to be invaulable. I can't understand why any life would not be of value.[Edit by="sreid on Jul 27, 8:45:56 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="sreid on Jul 27, 8:49:57 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I wonder if something like this can be turned into a Service Learning project in our classrooms. Since many of us as Social Studies teachers are required to take care of that as a part of the graduation requirements we can possibly turn this into something for our students, In that way we can both teach them about these horrible things that are happening as well and try to make a difference and take action.

[Anonymous]

I think that's a phenomenal idea.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I always struggle to find ideas for service learning that my students will enjoy. Anything involving kids will usually get to them, especially if its kids being sold and harmed. They are always interested in the most dark aspects of human nature.

[Anonymous]

According to a website called Life Site News. Com, China's one-child policy is indeed taking on tragic dimensions. Laws have been passed where people are punished retroactively for children they fathered in the eighties. One man earning 1200 yuan a month, has been asked to pay 20,000 yuan for the five children he created, even though he already paid fines back in the days when it happened. The report goes on to say that peoples's propertygets confiscated if they can't pay. But if there's no property to be seized, the government will demolish their houses, threatening to bulldoze them to the ground. So indeed the Chinese government comes off as a big horrible bully.
But behind Chinese efforts to slash their poulation in half by 2050 are other bullies, namely the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which according to another article by Life Site News is "heavily involved in Chinese population control policy".
(www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022905.html)

Since "Life Site News" is definitely a pro-life organization, it is difficult to gage to what extent the Chinese government is creating an atrocious situation with its one-child policy. More and more reports are definitely pointing to a sad situation. It is an issue that I will continue to follow. Your post on China's stolen children has definitely gotten me started on a new inquiry.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad that I sparked a discussion and such an awareness of how some female children are being neglected in China. I'm sure there are incidents like these all of the world, but this one truly had a tremendous impact on me.

[Anonymous]

It is apparent that child trafficking does not just occur in China. It also occurs in Viet Nam as well. I just read an article from Human Traficking News produced by students and artists interested in ending human slavery. There was an arrest made after a girl was forced in to prostitution by a human trafficer in Viet Nam.

http://fighthunantraffickingnews.blogspot.com/2007/07/arrests-in-vietnam-for-child.html

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to make those of you aware. If you are like me and don't have cable or satelite dish, you may watch nine parts of China's Stolen Children on You Tube. Just go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgFxEPO6g.

For some reason when I tried to type in this url address, it did not work for me. However, if you go to http://www.youtube.com and type China's Stolen Children in the search box, the documentary comes up.[Edit by="sreid on Jul 27, 8:42:09 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="sreid on Jul 27, 8:44:05 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I also noticed another article about China's Stolen Children in a Washington Post archive. The main shocker is that a trusted relative helped get a man's 15-year-old son a job. Later the 15-year-old disappeared. Young men are kidnapped and forced to work under horrilble conditions. One young man was forced to work in an illegal brick kiln factory. When a group of parents looking for their own children notices youngsters working in their school uniforms, they called the police and were later able to send the children to their perspective parents. However, the police did not question the employers nor did they attempt to shut the kiln down. These parents also noticed that some of the children were as young as eight years old. It is also reported that some of the rescue workers will resell the children back to these slave conditions.

This Washington Post Article can be found on http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/09/AR2008030920048_3html

The title is A Desperate Search For Stolen Children

[Anonymous]

It would be such a disappointment to the Chinese people to have these sort of issues pop up after what has been mentioned on the abuse of the Chinese Olympic gymnastic team. The contradictions of what is expected from young children in China is unbelievable. This was an reason for me to question how young Chinese teenagers feel about their own country.

[Author]

Posts