From Al Jazeera:
China is struggling to cope with a wave of child abductions which sees more than 200 babies and toddlers being stolen every day, according to some estimates.
It is a lucrative business in which an abducted girl child can fetch $1,200 and a boy anything up to $5,000, more than the average annual salary in urban China.
“Before I only knew people stole mobile phones and wallets. Later I knew that more than 1,000 kids have been stolen in this province, more than 20 kids living near me. It is astonishing,” Sun Haiyang told Al Jazeera.
The article claims that these are due to such factors as China’s “One Child Policy“, where many families want to secure a male heir. It also states that girls are abducted “to raise [them] as future wives for their boys, and also to look after the [adopted] families.” It also states that “other children end up abroad after being sold for foreign adoptions or into slavery.”
For the abduction story of Chen Jie, a child abducted in Sichuan, see also “Has Anyone Seen My Child?” reported in the International Herald Tribune. See also “China’s Stolen Children”, a documentary about child abductions.
