Clik here to view.
Click to be taken to the video on Liveleak.com.
This video is heartbreaking. I don’t have a transcript of the entire thing but later in the video one of the rescuers can be heard saying “Be careful, be careful! That’s enough, do not saw anymore, use pliers!”
In the middle of the afternoon in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Jiangnan in China, a tenant of an apartment complex was reportedly using the toilet when they heard a strange sound from within the toilet pipes. In alarm, they called the landlord and then the police. Fire and police rushed to the scene and, shining a flashlight down the dirty PVC pipes were horrified to discover an abandoned baby.
Fire brigade personnel frantically cut out an under-section of pipe in order to take the entire section to the nearest hospital to hopefully rescue the child. They could not remove the baby immediately since he was curled up and wedged within the PVC, so by cutting out the pipeline first, they at least gave the baby more room to breathe. It took hours to rescue the child, ripping the pipe open by hand bit by bit, with pliers.
The child was so newborn that its placenta was attached to it.
Despite the horrific feeling hearing about this story, the most amazing thing about this is that the child is still alive. Whether he will survive we don’t know… after all, he has been exposed to all manner of septic bacteria and will no doubt have a cocktail of infections to deal with. The child’s heart rate was low, a mere 86 beats per minute, and his upper and lower limbs suffered multiple abrasions.
Abandoned babies in China are nothing new. Finding discarded babies in poor parts of China is routine for emergency services. The crime is so commonplace you do not hear about it in the media. It is more commonplace than explosions in the Middle East.
Don’t get me wrong, the Chinese are as horrified by these stories as you or I… outrage and political debate swarm to viral highs when these kinds of stories break in the media within China, not just internationally. Infantcide or attempted infantcide of ‘guilt children’ is rare in China’s cities, but still a problem in rural China. The circumstances around this particular child’s rescue and survival makes for primetime international coverage and once again every country can look scathingly at China as we all ask “why China, why?”
The frequency of abandoned babies occur in part because of China’s well known One Child policy - which, since it’s inception in 1979 means baby victims are usually discarded females.
Only males can bring in money and honour to a poor family in a culture where the sexes are still so traditionally skewed and discriminated against.
Speaking of discrimination, here’s an excerpt of what has been reported today by The Huffington Post:
Women who give birth out of wedlock could face heavy fines under draft family planning legislation in central China.
According to the proposals published on Friday, unmarried parents who do not have “appropriate certificates from the other party” will incur fees, China’s Global Times reports.
While the wording refers to “parties” and “parents”, the move has been interpreted by state media as mainly targeting unmarried mothers and women who knowingly have children with married men. Regions including Beijing, Guangdong and Henan already have similar policies in place, the paper adds.
The draft was released online on Friday and public suggestions and comments will be accepted until June 7.
An unnamed official told China Daily: “Wuhan’s commission will take into account public opinion and submit the amended regulation to the people’s congress for approval before it can be carried out.”
The paper says the draft currently states unmarried mothers will be liable for a fine equivalent to at least twice her average income in the previous year.
Read the whole article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/03/unmarried-chinese-mothers-fined_n_3377238.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
Why can’t the men who make these women pregnant be fined? A blanket rule never holding the men accountable… I would have thought better of you by now, China. Before you become the world’s largest economy you still have a lot of growing up to do.
Related articles
- Mother of baby rescued from Chinese sewer pipe won’t be charged (metronews.ca)
- Baby Survives After Being Flushed Down the Toilet (medindia.net)
- China sewer pipe baby back with mother (guardian.co.uk)
- Baby saved from toilet is out of hospital (cnn.com)
- Chinese baby flushed down toilet rescued ALIVE: Did mother raise the alarm? (dailymail.co.uk)
- Rescuers save a newborn from sewer pipe in China (newsday.com)
- Baby survives being flushed down toilet (wwlp.com)
- Toilet Pipe Baby Released To Mother and ‘Father’ (news.sky.com)
- Baby Rescued From Sewer Pipe in China; May Have Been Abandoned (theepochtimes.com)
- Mother of ‘sewer foundling’ had hidden her pregnancy, police say (theweek.co.uk)
Filed under: Crime, Culture, Multiculturalism, Parenting & Family, People, Politics, Law Tagged: Beijing, China, controversial news, controversy, Global Times, Henan, Jinhua, MailOnline, Middle East, One-child policy, Pujiang County Zhejiang, Zhejiang Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
