A young couple in Jiangyong county, Yongzhou, Hunan Province have sold three babies, all their own, since 2010 for monetary gain, as reported by Sanxiang City Express on July 20.
"Li Lin," born in 1991, became acquainted with the 15-year-old girl "Li Juan" in 2007 (both names are pseudonyms because of the ages of the people involved). The two soon began living together.
In September 2008, Li Juan gave birth to a baby boy, after which she became pregnant again and delivered a girl in December one year later.
The pair's addiction to the internet rendered them unable to support themselves financially. The husband eventually persuaded his wife to get "compensation" for the baby girl, for whom they received 3000 yuan ($464.95).
At the end of 2010, the woman agreed to sell her first child, a son, at the price of 30,000 yuan ($4,649.43). Soon afterwards, they delivered their third baby and sold him for 7,000 yuan ($1,084.89 ).
Li Lin's mother reported to local police that her grandson had disappeared after Li Juan took the child away.
Yu Tao, the director of the legal affairs section in Jiangyong county police station, described the couple as "morally bankrupt" for selling their own babies.
"The selling of one's own child is a violation of Chinese law," Yu added.
The post-1990 generation couple has been detained and their first child has been found in Huizhou, Guangdong Province.
The other two children are still being searched for by policemen.
Both of the young people are currently below the legal age for marriage. Chinese law stipulates that a man should be over 22 and that a woman must be at least 20 to be legally wedded.
