What China's Talking About Today: Mother Tries to Give Away Baby Online

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A Guangzhou woman reportedly advertised the newborn as 99 percent new, 100 free.

baby march29p.jpg

The baby, as advertised on a second-hand goods Web site Sina


A Guangzhou woman contemplating divorce attempted to give away her baby on second-hand-goods website, according to a Sina News article.

The mother, age 30, said that she was not ready to raise a child alone. She reportedly listed her 2-month-old baby boy as a "99 percent new" item, 100 percent free, and attached the above picture of her child on the site. She still hasn't found a taker.

Lawyers interviewed by Sina News commented that the mother -- referred to as Ms. Li -- must obtain the permission of the child's father and go through the appropriate legal channels to put her baby up for adoption.

The story sparked a very modest trend on Sina Weibo. Most of the roughly 10,000 micro-bloggers commenting on the story since its release yesterday expressed their outrage at Ms. Li.

"So irresponsible. We still call this a mother? This makes me so angry," wrote CaicaiSir.

Of course, no Weibo hot topic is without its comedians.

"Is shipping included? I want! I <3 babies," wrote DANQINGXiaoWo.

In an ongoing poll on the burgeoning trend, asking whether people could understand Ms. Li's behavior, some of the options were:

"Not bad - Let a responsible parent adopt the child!"

"Speechless"

"None of my business"

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Massoud Hayoun writes for and produces The Atlantic's International channel.

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