Chinese Baby Trafficking Ring Exposed

A family in China made babies their business

The lucrative trade in newborns was fueled by an adoption frenzy that saw government-run orphanages paying for children who they then made available to Westerners.

Duan Yuelin and Chen Zhijin, his mother, get children from the rural poor and adopt them out to foreigners, talk about their business in their home in Changning, China. Chen says the children are better off with their new parents. (Barbara Demick / Los Angeles Times / January 15, 2010)

When someone used the term "vulture" to describe the predatory ethos in adoption today, others were - quite naturally - offended. But else can you define these excerpt from the story:

"The telephones kept ringing with more orders and although Duan Yuelin kept raising his prices, the demand was inexhaustible. Customers were so eager to buy more that they would ply him with expensive gifts and dinners in fancy restaurants."

[Kinda flies in the face of the myth of "unwanted" baby hirsl; in China needing to be rescued by altruism.]

"What merchandise was he selling? Babies. And the customers were government-run orphanages that paid up to $600 each for newborn girls for adoption in the United States and other Western countries."