Chinese Couple Sell Their Children To Fund Gaming Addiction

[Ace]

Why are these cases only reported in China? I'm positive that this happens in other countries as well: I'd be glad to hear it doesn't just happen there.

 

[BORTZ]

Id totally sell my children for games if i had any.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

Why are these cases only reported in China? I'm positive that this happens in other countries as well: I'd be glad to hear it doesn't just happen there.

Well is surrogacy much different?

 

[The Catboy]

Why are these cases only reported in China? I'm positive that this happens in other countries as well: I'd be glad to hear it doesn't just happen there.

I've heard of this stuff happen in Korea as well.

 

[doyama]

"to afford their internet cafe gaming addictions."

Never been able to understand the attraction of net cafe's for gaming needs. You need to be completely retarded to think paying an often outrageous sum per hour is a bargain.

Seen a store in town selling time at 6 bucks an hour. And I know a person that was ok using it. I pay 30 bucks for unlimited use of my internet connection. That's a full month, not one afternoon.

You have to realise that in many countries having a computer in your home is not an option. Have you ever had 5 people living in a 500sq foot home? Not uncommon in places like China. Good luck trying to find space for even a laptop. Not to mention many people don't have enough money to even afford a really junky computer.

Also note the number disparity $4600 and $500. I can tell you unequivocally that the $4600 were boys, and the $500 was a girl. There are a lot of factors playing into this. One is cultural where males are viewed as preferable to females for children. This is compounded by the one child per household policy. Then there's the combination of those two which has resulted in a HUGE glut of males but no females to marry. Thus adopting children is becoming more common for those who can't find a mate but need a child to 'carry the name'.

Also note they drove 30km to play their games. Which means that they were living in some crappy village in the middle of nowhere. You know how much $4600 is? A LOT! Considering that the net income of a typical farmer in a year is around $800.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2009...ent_8472673.htm

Note this is 'official' numbers, so in our reality this number constitutes the very very high end of the scale. Most likely the actual average is more like 1/2 that.

Not saying this is 'right' or anything. But considering the abject poverty most rural people live in, it does give a bit more context.

 

[exangel]

"to afford their internet cafe gaming addictions."

Never been able to understand the attraction of net cafe's for gaming needs. You need to be completely retarded to think paying an often outrageous sum per hour is a bargain.

Seen a store in town selling time at 6 bucks an hour. And I know a person that was ok using it. I pay 30 bucks for unlimited use of my internet connection. That's a full month, not one afternoon.

You have to realise that in many countries having a computer in your home is not an option. Have you ever had 5 people living in a 500sq foot home? Not uncommon in places like China. Good luck trying to find space for even a laptop. Not to mention many people don't have enough money to even afford a really junky computer.
...

You'd also have the risk of having your home computer getting stolen and the expensive of an internet source from home. Almost everyone in my extended family in the Philippines goes on facebook from cafes.. I don't think any of them access the internet from home PC's, maybe semi smart phones at best. They may not be gamers and all... but I think that the lifestyle of people "above the poverty line" in countries like the US and UK is experienced by maybe 1% of people in China..

 

[doyama]

Note male heirs are big big bucks. Don't think poor people are the only ones doing this

Two sons of a huge Hong Kong billionare have been vying for the money in the only way they know how. Popping kids.

The younger 'lazy stupid' son married an actress. She has been feverishly pushing out children as fast as she possibly can to get a son. As they say 3rd times a charm.

The older smarter son who actually does work, apparently not to be outdone, just went for the moon. He popped 3 sons from a surrogate mother in America. Despite the 'minor' issue that he's not married, and that doing foreign surrogate is totally illegal in Hong Kong.

Each grandson has an 'estimated' value of about a billion dollars. the grand daughters are few million

 

[AlanJohn]

Why couldn't they buy a gaming PC instead?

 

[doyama]

Why couldn't they buy a gaming PC instead?

When you live in rural china and make $800 A YEAR, getting even a junky PC made in the 80s is far too expensive.

Even those living in the city don't have too many luxuries. Your 'apartment' might be enough for a small bed and that's it. You're more likely sharing a room with 5 other people who would be fighting to sell your computer in the time it took you to take a piss in the washroom down the hall. As I 've said, if it's not nailed down, bolted down, tied down, glued down, the chinese will find a way to steal it. Chinese guests at the mandarin Oriental were cutting out the rugs underneath their beds to take home ( you thought stealing the bathrobes was bad!)

Also many migrant workers send literally every penny they can make back to their relatives in these rural villages, so there's not much left money to 'save'. They're spending their last few yuan to go to these gaming places, or gambling, or whatever really. They're living paycheck to paycheck, and don't have the money for an internet connection, and computer and some place to put it, and send money back to their relatives.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

but I think that the lifestyle of people "above the poverty line" in countries like the US and UK is experienced by maybe 1% of people in China..

Lol, people living in "poverty" in the UK all have big screen HD tellies, sky+, at least a current gen console, and don't have to bother working if they carry on pumping out kids.

 

[doyama]

Personally I'm not entirely convinced this happened.

You haven't watched enough Chinese news then. The story is so 'mundane' my wife didn't even bother to tell me about this one considering all the 'other' stories coming out of China.

The only reason this made the 'news' was the REASON for selling the kids. The reality is that the selling of children happens all the time. Selling male children is so profitable that gangs STEAL them from families to sell into the adoption market.

While in this story, the reasons are stupid, the reality is that the market for selling kids for cash exists, and is big business.

 

[doyama]

Why are these cases only reported in China? I'm positive that this happens in other countries as well: I'd be glad to hear it doesn't just happen there.

It's mostly in Asian countries since Internet Cafe's have a much higher presence there. South Korea is the exception, but 'generally' they are popular in Asia due to the cost of broadband being excessive for the 90-99% in those countries that live in poverty, the fact that rural areas have very little access to internet in general, and the costs of a physical computer are too high.

 

[AlanJohn]

Why couldn't they buy a gaming PC instead?

When you live in rural china and make $800 A YEAR, getting even a junky PC made in the 80s is far too expensive.

Even those living in the city don't have too many luxuries. Your 'apartment' might be enough for a small bed and that's it. You're more likely sharing a room with 5 other people who would be fighting to sell your computer in the time it took you to take a piss in the washroom down the hall. As I 've said, if it's not nailed down, bolted down, tied down, glued down, the chinese will find a way to steal it. Chinese guests at the mandarin Oriental were cutting out the rugs underneath their beds to take home ( you thought stealing the bathrobes was bad!)

Also many migrant workers send literally every penny they can make back to their relatives in these rural villages, so there's not much left money to 'save'. They're spending their last few yuan to go to these gaming places, or gambling, or whatever really. They're living paycheck to paycheck, and don't have the money for an internet connection, and computer and some place to put it, and send money back to their relatives.

Yeah but they got 4,700 $ from the children, a good gaming PC costs about 1,700 $.

 

[exangel]

Yeah but they got 4,700 $ from the children, a good gaming PC costs about 1,700 $.

You're not even comprehending the risk a person would be taking owning something that valuable in their home in China. He explained it in the post you quoted.

 

[doyama]

Yeah but they got 4,700 $ from the children, a good gaming PC costs about 1,700 $.

Like I said, the story indicates they drove 30km to the cafe. Which means:

1) Rural areas have basically no internet access
2) Putting anything of that high a value in your home, guarantees someone will steal it within a few hours. I mean even in America if you live in a some crappy neighborhood, and someone sees a Newegg box on your doorstep, as Chris Rock said "You ain't hear shit because you was doing shit!"

Mostly the lack of any useful internet is what drives most people to use Internet cafes.

 

[jonesman99]

Better off they sold them for a gaming addiction and hopefully in a better home, than them being sold for drugs or sex and end up someplace worse.
Both is still pretty bad though.
Hope they can get their act together.

 

[doyama]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/world/asia/05kidnap.html

Bit of an old article but still relevant today in terms of how much money there is in the child abuduction/selling market.

I think people are too caught up in the 'video game' angle, and really have missed the major point of the ease in which they got their money for a bunch of kids.

That's mostly why this falls under the 'mundane' category for me in terms of Chinese news. Which is kinda sad where I'm so desensitized to Chinese news that something like this doesn't even make me bat an eye.

 

[jonesman99]

@doyama is it true that at one point in china you couldn't have more than 2 kids? There was another part of that but I don't remember it.

 

[exangel]

@doyama is it true that at one point in china you couldn't have more than 2 kids? There was another part of that but I don't remember it.

This was actually enforced by sterilizing mothers, and you couldn't have more than one child in an urban area, 2 in rural.

If a woman's child died their family was pretty much destroyed or the husband would have to find another wife to continue the family name.

 

[thela_kid]

I traced the sources back 2-3 sites http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-...s-to-play-games it has slightly more information