Baby‑Take‑out Scandal Reaches High‑Level Critics in Guangxi
In a case that felt like a bad dream from the 1990s, China has pulled a pair of health‑officials from their desks in Guangxi. They’re sending a sharp warning: the old one‑child rule isn’t just a bureaucratic relic, it can still hurt people.
What’s the story?
- On the 5th of July, parents Tang Yueying and Deng Zhensheng shouted from Weibo that their 19‑year‑old son had been abducted by local officials back when the one‑child policy was in full swing.
- The county in Quanzhou, which handled the case, claimed that the child was taken under a policy called “social adjustment.” In plain English: the government said it was a special “plan” that dealt with extra births.
- But that “plan” has also been used as a convenient excuse to avoid saying, “Yes, it’s human trafficking.”
Why the heat?
- In the past year, China has been shoo‑shoo‑shoo to all kinds of child‑abduction scandals—women sold, chained, or caged. The public outcry so loud it’s almost like a full‑blown protest.
- A former Global Times editor, think Hu Xijin, took a Q‑and‑A stance: “If Quanzhou played the social‑adjustment card, it would be totally wrong and more inhumane than ever before.”
Official responses
- The Guilin city government says the chief and deputy of the Quanzhou health bureau have been suspended. Investigation is already mopping up the evidence.
- Neither the Quanzhou health bureau nor the city government answered any of the reporters’ questions right away.
- And if you tried to talk to the parents—well, Reuters couldn’t get a response from them.
How it all starts back in 1980
Think less about fancy tech and more about the practical side of family‑planning. From 1980 to 2016, China blamed a single-child policy that got folks caught making extra babies for hefty fines. You could almost imagine it as a giant, inconvenient weight‑lifting program for new parents.
Bottom line?
The restless quest for the 22‑year‑old baby shows two things: once, older policies can still run in the shadows, and twice, people demand concrete action now. Who’s got the good news? |
