Baby with Umbilical Cord Attached Found in Filthy Dustbin, Even After China Revoked One-Child Policy

Abandoning babies are still very common in China that was seen after the Chinese government implemented the one-child policy

The one-child policy was the official program that was initiated in the late 1970s and early '80s by the China government to control the population. Even though this program doesn't exist today, similar incidents that became very common at that time, like abandoning babies, have been appearing in China very frequently even now.

Recently Chinese media reported that a newborn in China discovered from a rubbish bin while the umbilical cord was still attached. The baby was found wrapped in a plastic bag when a food delivery worker heard the crying voice of the infant while parking his motorcycle nearby in the northern Chinese region Ningxia. As reported, the baby is currently in a stable condition after being taken to a local hospital for examination.

The Abandoned Baby

Newborn Baby
Newborn Baby - Representational Picture Reuters

The man, Hai Yafeng, who found the baby under a pile of garbage told in a video, "I heard some noise coming out of the rubbish bin. It was a baby's crying." The video shows a dustbin filled with garbage, while the crying voice of a baby can be heard in the background. In the footage, the delivery worker can be heard saying, "Listen, Is that a baby's crying?"

After looking into the dustbin, he spotted the newborn wrapped in a black plastic bag. Without wasting time, he immediately contacted the authorities. Yafeng said, "The baby looked like they had just been born an hour or two ago. The umbilical cord was even attached."

But this is not the first time babies are abandoned in China. In southern China, parents of a newborn abandoned the girl child said they wanted to have a son, reported local media. Later, when a street cleaner found the baby, she was taken to a local welfare center by the authorities.

In another case, a 10-day-old newborn girl was found inside a public bathroom in China, Sichuan Province. She was discovered by a passerby at the restroom in the city of Mianyang.

Ring a Bell?

When China implemented the one-child policy, many parents had to leave their second child somewhere far from the home. Many of these children were rescued and people from western countries adopted them, though many could not survive after they were left alone on the street side. Last year a documentary movie—One Child Nation—showed such brutal stories. The filmmaker, who is a Chinese woman, went to her native to uncover the untold history of China's one-child policy.

In 2016, China changed its rule, and two-children policy was implemented. But as per reports, many parents in China weren't convinced that two were better than one. As per a report, an estimated 100,000 babies, as well as children, are abandoned by their parents every year. Such practices are considered illegal in the country.

In this current scenario, it is claimed that the parents abandon their children because they were born with a serious illness or disorder. As per People's Daily Online, many parents worry that they won't be able to afford the baby's medical bills and the cost to bring them up. Reports also claimed that some young parents also had to leave their newborns as they got pregnant unexpectedly and did not want their parents to find out about the baby.

This article was first published on August 17, 2020
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