Who needs kids when you have online gaming? That appears to be the thoughts of a young Chinese couple who reportedly sold their three young children for money to use in internet cafes. According to a southern Chinese newspaper, the couple met and bonded in 2007 over an obsession with online games. The couple, who are both under 21, had a little boy a year later. They reportedly went to an internet cafe just days after his birth to play online games. In 2009, they had another baby, a girl, and came up with the idea to sell her so that they could continue their gaming habits.
While they may not have thought at first that it would work, it did and the baby girl was sold for RMB 3,000 (less than $500). After burning through that money, they sold their first child for ten times the amount as the first child ($4,600 or RMB 30,000). They then had a third child which they sold for the same amount as the other little boy. They were found out when the children’s grandmother realized what they were doing. Needless to say, I think family gatherings in that household will be awkward. The parents did not know that this was illegal, and they did not miss their children.
[Source: ABC News Radio]
[Images via ABC News Radio and Game Politics]
