The 2003 arrest of the ringleaders of the gang exposed a network of trafficking in baby girls that spread from Guangxi to Henan, Anhui and Hubei provinces in central and eastern China, the report said.
The case broke when police found 28 drugged and tied-up baby girls -- none over three months old -- in bags on board a bus bound for northern cities. One of the babies died while being smuggled, reports at the time said.
The case has been linked to China's "one child" family planning policy that has sharpened traditional values preferring boys over girls and leading to many mothers selling or giving away their baby daughters in the hopes of later having a son. Many defendants in the case refused to admit wrongdoing, insisting they were providing a humanitarian service as many of the trafficked girls went to childless couples in cities, earlier press reports on the scandal said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
follow up
Babies in tote bags lead to gang arrests
Updated: 2004-07-24 09:23 (snipped)
A court convicted 52 members of a baby-trafficking gang Friday, sentencing the ringleaders to death or life in prison. Five gang members received life in prison, while 40 others were sentenced to at least 18 months, Xinhua said.
According to Xinhua,
Xie bought infants from midwives, health care workers or other baby-traffickers in Yulin and passed them on to Cui, who had them smuggled to buyers as far away as northern China.
Babies were drugged to keep them asleep while being smuggled, leading to at least one death, Xinhua said.
The Xinhua report named 12 employees of two Yulin hospitals who allegedly sold babies for $12 to $24 each.
Authorities said earlier that
no families had claimed the babies rescued in March, and the report Friday gave no details of what happened to them. Local officials said they might wind up being raised in orphanages.
Communist authorities - led by
Mao Zedong, who famously remarked that women "hold up half the sky" - prided themselves on raising the status of women. Upon taking power in 1949,
they ended the prewar custom of selling unwanted daughters to brothels or as servants.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/24/content_351314.htm