"17 Million Won Birth Certificate Forgery... Kidnapped Child Identity Concealment Causes Outrage in China"

Suspicion in Southern Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Following Hubei Province
Evidence of Newborn Trafficking Using Forged Birth Certificates

The director of a hospital in Hubei Province, China, was arrested on charges of forging birth certificates, amid claims that similar incidents have occurred in other regions.

The photo is not directly related to the content of the article. [Image source=Getty Images]

According to local media such as Pengpai on the 12th, 'Shangguan Zhengyi' (上官正義), an anti-human trafficking activist who recently exposed the forgery of birth certificates at a hospital in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, leading to the hospital director's arrest, announced on his social media (SNS) the day before that the person in charge of the Foshan City Fu'ai Maternity Hospital in southern Guangdong Province was also detained by the police.

Shangguan Zhengyi added that a hospital in Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, also has issues related to the buying and selling of birth certificates and that he has reported this to the local government authorities.

Regarding this, a representative from the Nanning Municipal Health Commission stated, "We are monitoring the reports received online," and added, "We are currently investigating these reports and will announce detailed information later."

This case became public after Shangguan Zhengyi exposed earlier this month that Jianchao Hospital in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, was selling birth certificates in connection with brokers.

After months of tracking, Shangguan Zhengyi revealed that he had obtained all birth certificate-related documents for 'nonexistent children' from Jianchao Hospital and even heard from brokers that they could provide a 'child abandoned by parents.'

By contacting brokers through SNS and paying 96,000 yuan (approximately 17 million KRW), one could obtain a birth certificate, an essential document used for newborn vaccination, household registration, and social insurance application.

It is reported that when the hospital received 96,000 yuan for forging birth certificates, the hospital director took 66,000 yuan (approximately 11.9 million KRW), and the remaining amount was shared among delivery room staff.

Brokers are said to have used forged birth certificates to disguise the identities of kidnapped or abducted children. Children with such disguised birth certificates were reportedly traded for more than 100,000 yuan (approximately 18 million KRW).

Meanwhile, according to China Central Television (CCTV) on the same day, the Xiangyang City authorities formed a special task force and detained six people, including the hospital director Ye Mo (55). The police also arrested four other suspects and are conducting investigations. Additionally, Jianchao Hospital's qualification to issue birth certificates and provide maternal and child health services has been revoked.

Chinese authorities have also begun disciplinary investigations into local party and government officials responsible for the hospital's mismanagement, with 13 senior officials and public servants already under investigation, the media reported.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency commented, "If a hospital, whose mission is to save lives, has become a link in the 'whitewashing' of illegally adopted children, it is enough to send chills down one's spine," urging a thorough investigation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.