Caixin Investigative Special: The Sale of a Child in Shaoyang

Yang Ling is the first-born child to Yang Libing and his wife Cao Zhimei, in the mountainous and impoverished Gaoping County of Hunan Province. She was born on July 29, 2004.

(Yang Libing, Cao Zhimei, and their daughter Yang Ling)

Like most other peasants in Yang's village, Yang and Cao had to join the ranks of migrant workers to earn a living. They left their homes for Shenzhen when their daughter was only six months old, entrusting the care of Yang Ling to their parents, with no idea that their daughter would be taken away by family planning agencies a year later.

Before Yang and Cao left, the family visited a photography studio to take a portrait. The photo became the last image ever had of their daughter Yang Ling.

In May 2005, Yang called his father to ask about his daughter. His father told him that Yang Ling had been abducted by officials from the local family planning agency. Yang began the long search for his daughter, which hasn't concluded yet.

According to the Longhui County Family Planning Agency, Yang Ling was taken away because her parents did not have the proper permit to raise their child. The case supervisor was Liu Sude, then-vice party secretary of Longhui County, who was in charge of family planning affairs.

The family planning agency documents also state that on April 25, 2005, Gaoping County government was "tipped off by villagers" and then launched an investigation into the case in which Yang had been raising a while without "legal permits."

According to an interview with the village secretary named Wang Xianjiao by officials from Gaoping County's family planning agency, on April 28, 2005, Yang Libing came back home with his child.

But Yang Libing's father Yang Qingzheng told Caixin that he was not interviewed the day the alleged confession was made.

In fact, characters of his name, Yang Qinzheng, were written incorrectly in the interview records. Fingerprints on the document purported to be Yang's were discovered to be false.

In response to this the Gaoping County police forged a document saying Yang's marital status at the time was single. The village committee also fabricated evidence that Yang had picked up the child from outside his home.

In addition, the village secretary "Wang Xianjiao" testified in a written document that "Yang picked up the girl when he was working outside" and "he was not approved for adoption."

However, as the real Wang Xianjiao told Caixin, she had never made any such testimony, and the document did not even cite his name correctly.

Related fabricated documents also suggest that, at that time, "Yang Libing" received an inquiry from the local family planning agency.

On the records, "Yang" admitted that he picked up a girl and brought her home, later sending a request to give the girl up for adoption out of economic necessity. A signature and fingerprint appear on the document.

In addition, "Yang" wrote an application, in which it said: "I voluntarily relinquish my parental rights to Shaoyang Orphanage."
 
Yang told Caixin all these materials were fabricated. The signatures and fingerprints on them are not his, because at the time, he was working in the southern city of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Both Yang and Cao's factories confirmed to Caixin that the couple worked in Shenzhen then.

The local government's investigation of the case decided in favor of the family planning agency based on the evidence.

Liu Shude, head of the local family-planning agency, wrote an opinion on the case, stating, "The staffers at the orphanage acted in accordance with the law and I agree with the agency's action to send the abandoned baby to the orphanage."

Yang's daughter Yang Ling became, in the eyes of the state, an abandoned baby, due to the materials supplied by the local village committee, the civil affairs department, the police and the family-planning agency. Between 2001 and 2005, more than 15 children were taken to Shaoyang's orphanage from Gaoping.

But on October 15, 2010, Fengxing Village issued a revised statement on the status of Yang's daughter, which said "Yang Ling was taken away for family planning reasons, and is currently missing"

Yang continues to search for his daughter.

Download the complete documents in PDF format here.