Six people arrested in China’s Hubei province over ‘baby-trafficking ring’

Whistleblower claims hospital director colluded with ‘online intermediaries’ to sell birth certificates for about £10,750

Six people have been arrested in central China’s Hubei province over alleged involvement in a baby-trafficking ring linked to a hospital in one of the province’s biggest cities.

The allegations about Xiangyang Jianqiao hospital first came to light on 6 November via a Weibo user by the name of Shangguan Zhengyi, who describes himself as an “anti-trafficking volunteer”. Shangguan posted a series of claims about the hospital’s director, Ye Youzhi, whom he accused of colluding “with online intermediaries” to sell birth certificates for 96,000 yuan (£10,750).

After selling a birth certificate, the hospital would follow the “normal” registration process for new babies, including issuing vaccination booklets and assisting with household registration requirements, Shangguan claimed.

Shangguan, who says he worked undercover for the hospital for a year, also accused Ye of brokering the sale of babies and facilitating surrogacy arrangements, which are illegal in China. He said that a baby girl was sold in September for 118,000 yuan and later registered in Sichuan province. It is not clear how many babies are believed to have been trafficked through the hospital.

Ye was among those arrested, according to a notice from the Xiangyang municipal government posted on Sunday. Her medical licence has also been revoked. As well as the six people who have been formally arrested, four suspects have been detained without charge.

After Shangguan publicised his allegations, Chinese media reported that Ye, 55, a gynaecologist and obstetrician, has been involved in a number of medical scandals. In 2010, she was convicted of performing gender-selective abortions and sentenced to five months in prison.

The Guardian was not able to contact Xiangyang Jianqiao hospital. Its WeChat account has become inactive and its website is no longer online. The local health authority said on 7 November that the obstetrics department of the hospital had been suspended.

Shangguan did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.

Trafficking has long been an issue of concern in China. During the era of the one-child policy, a cultural preference for boys led to baby girls being abandoned or sold through underground networks. Years later, a surplus of men of marrying age fuelled an industry of trafficking girls and young women to be their brides.

In recent years the authorities have emphasised their crackdown on trafficking rings, especially after the case of the chained woman emerged last year. In January 2022, a video of a woman surnamed Yang, who was chained by her neck to a concrete wall, went viral. The authorities said that she had been trafficked twice as a bride in the 1990s.

In September, Yu Huaying, a woman in Guizhou province, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of abducting and trafficking 11 children in the 1990s.

The cases often prompt huge outpourings of online anger, which the authorities struggle to contain. One of the most famous recent cases was that of Sun Haiyang, a man who spent 14 years looking for his son, Sun Zhuo, who had been abducted as a four-year-old. The father and son were reunited in 2021, with the story having been adapted into a film, Dearest, which drew widespread attention to the case. Last month the kidnapper was sentenced to five years in prison, a sentence that Sun – and many people online – said was too light.