Chinese couple sell their kids to pay for online gaming

@Bramen I know, that's so overpriced.

@Faith

Because they couldn't possibly be selling their kids to pay a monthly sub, or a lifetime sub, or anything like that... =P

@pcgneurotic

Free to play, all the way!

Its clearly the only way to stop child slavery.

@SunnyRavencourt
Yeah, that was my thought as well. :(

@SunnyRavencourt

Uhm ... little girls will always be quite "sellable" in Asia.

China has bans on that sort of thing in country, but they really don't give a shit what happens if you were to buy them a one way ticket to Thailand.

It's a good chance that those boys ended up in the same place, or at least the property of a Triad boss. Moral people don't buy kids, period.

There are plenty of Orphanages in China, if you want a child TO RAISE AS YOUR OWN all you gotta do is ask.

@Fakeassname "all you gotta do is ask."

and provide bank details, health reports, family history information, proof of employment, marriage certificates (hetero only), pay thousands more, and be stuck in a waiting line for years.

ya, simple as walking up and asking....

@Dril I would hope that ABC News checked their sources. It's not exactly a blog.

@Dril

The one child policy isn't really in effect in China any more. It's much less strenuous now and especially since China realized that it was causing such a disparity in sexes (30 million more men than women in China). And as for the Chinese officials noticing I'm sure they thought about it long enough to realize they can't just be having these children disappear all willy nilly.

@SunnyRavencourt

Try looking for the newspaper in question: virtually the only mention is this story and a tiny directory mention.

The story really doesn't add up.

At all.

@sorryfsu

Even if it is being relaxed (which is to say, it's being made slightly more lenient but still fairly strict), 3 children wouldn't be tolerated, *especially* in an urban environment (which is where these people are) and if the first child was a boy.

@Dril

One child policy is related to how much tax you are willing to pay. So yes, multiple children is allowed.

Now the issue lies in how the hell can they afford pay three children taxes?

My guess is they don't. So how did that happened?

Well, one has to understand that big part of the chinese police force/enforcement are quite useless, or lazy, or whatever you call it. I have experienced it first hand during my time at China. Law is in place, but law enforcement is just..... not quite there.

Either they are never checked, and when they are checked, there is every indication on SURFACE that they are living with a kid. And quite frankly the investigation most likely died there.

Just my two cents having spent extended period of time in China.

@sorryfsu Any society that values its phalluses over its wombs will die from lack of replacement humans.

That's why it's 'Women and children first' in the Western world, rather than the other way around.

@Tyrang

"One child policy is related to how much tax you are willing to pay. So yes, multiple children is allowed."

But that's my point: if they're selling children for money, the burden of having to pay extra fines/taxes seems counter-productive.

@Dril

you pay the tax based on the number of children produced, not living with you.

if you pop out one child and it dies 3 months later (for whatever reason) they will still bill you for two kids if you go back to the "factory" and pop out another one.

you can get around that by not having the kid at a hospital but then you run into problems with your child not being registered as a Chinese citizen.

@Dril @Tyrang

* "It may also have occured in the countryside. You can get away with things there.

For child tax, that could have been another reason to sell than just "selling for game money". *

I agree, it's all sketchy, but so are the ultimate reasons. It really could have been they got tired of caring for the kids and figured out a way to get money and get them out. It's obvious the grandmother was appalled since she reported her own daughter.

Really, I've heard/seen poor people in other countries do about the same for other/similar reasons (they wanted a new car...etc.). These sound like uneducated "hicks", but again, that's my speculation knowing human nature.