I wonder if he's cold

"In the winter, I wonder if he's cold, when it's raining, I wonder if he's getting wet".

This was a quote from a Ch*nese woman who's only son was kidnapped about 3 years ago when he was 5 years old. I was watching a 4 Corners special about child trafficking in Ch*na and it broke my heart. When a girl marries (this probably applies more to poorer provinces these days than the big cities) she leaves her family and joins her husband's family. So families who have a girl are left with nobody to look after them in their old age. The one child policy means that they can't have another to 'try' for a boy. This leads to some families trying to buy a boy, or if they are very poor, sell one. If a child can't be found that 'meets the needs' of the buyers, one can be stolen. Girls can be bought and sold too, but at a much lower price.

The other tragedy of the strictly enforced one child policy is that couples must have a birth permit before falling pregnant. One couple who got pregnant without a permit hid for almost a year to avoid paying the fine. Eventually they realised they had to 'come clean' in order for their son to have access to education and health care. It took them 4 years to finish paying the fine. One year later, their son was taken. Another couple got pregnant out of wedlock and, since they are too young to legally marry, cannot ever register their baby. Their child will forever be a non-person with no birth certificate, no access to education and no civil rights. If they go to a hospital for medical care they run the risk of being reported and having an abortion forced on them, or being hit with a huge fine. They feel their only choice is to sell their baby.

It was amazing to 'eavesdrop' on secretly filmed conversations about buying and selling children. How cute ones and smart ones are worth more, but you can't give away an ugly one. How older ones (up to 5 or 6) are worth even more because the buyer doesn't have to go to the trouble of looking after a young baby.

Another heartbreaking impact of Draconian law making where instead of education and empowerment, people are managed, ordered and commanded. The Ch*nese government still denies that the current gender imbalance has anything to do with the one child policy. According to 4 Corners, there are millions of girls aborted every year. This in turn has created a market for kidnapping and selling young girls as brides to men who simply can't find one because there are not enough women.

I was talking to Xiao Rao (Archie's nanny) about the possibility of us having another child and I was acutely aware of the freedom I have to make this choice. I can decide when and where, yes or no, when to stop and I don't have to apply to any government agency for permission. In fact my government pays me to breed.