Intercessors Network reports on an article by Louisa Lim concerning the enormous trafficking in children in China at this time. We are called on to pray for this tragic situation to somehow be turned into blessing for grieving families. Pray that Christians will be able to touch the lives of both parents and children caught in this vicious trap. Anthony Bollback's new book entitled Exiles of Hope to be released before Easter, has a chapter on this age-old tragedy and how God used believers to solve one incident of a child ready to be sold into slavery.

 

Louise Lim reports that in a poor district in the southern city of Kunming, children play beside heaps of gravel left by construction crews. The scene brings back painful memories for Li Qifang and his wife, Pu Caiju. More than two years ago their four-year-old son was playing outside their house when he was abducted. They have not seen him since. “He disappeared on March 15, 2002. His father took him outside to play with his spinning top, and while absent for only two minutes, the child disappeared," said the mother. “We couldn't imagine such a thing happening," she continued. "We were crazy with fear, searching the little alleys, big roads and bus stations. We searched for days, but couldn't find our son." 
The couple now believe their son was abducted by a baby trafficking ring.

 

Buying and selling children is illegal in China, but child trafficking may be on the rise. A traditional preference for sons, combined with family planning restrictions limiting families to one child, have created a particularly strong market for boys. Christian Voumard, the Unicef representative in Beijing, says rising prosperity is contributing to the problem. “We heard that the price for a male child will be around $3,600. It’s much higher than the price for girls, which will be between $120 and $1000,” he said. “As people have more money and more resources in south and west China, they are tempted to buy these children.”
No one knows how widespread child trafficking is, but Unicef and the Chinese government estimate 1,000 babies are bought and sold every year. Those who have lost children suspect the real figure is much higher.

 

The father, Li Qifang, has been collecting a list of the children who have disappeared in Kunming. This list now has 200 names. He has also started an informal support network for parents, which has begun liaising with similar groups in other parts of China. He suspects trafficking rings are targeting poorer districts, where people cannot afford child care.

 

 For many parents, the loss of their children has led to a crisis of faith in the authorities and police.
“Time and time again, the police have told us they're investigating,” said Li Qifang. “After two years with no information or leads at all, how can we believe them?” He decided to take matters into his own hands.

He appeared on television to talk about his work, and this led to a startling telephone call. The caller tipped him off about a young boy fitting his son’s description, who had appeared about two years ago in a village in southern Guangdong province. Mr Li was convinced there was a chance the boy could be his son. “My contact says the child’s been telling people his real parents live near a train station, and sell pork for a living. When my son went missing, I was living by the train station in Kunming, working as a butcher,” he said.
 
"The village where the boy was living is almost 2,000km from Kunming, but Mr Li decided he had to make the trip to see the child. It was a long journey by train and bus. My contact took me to the village under cover of darkness, and pointed out the street where the little boy lived. In the morning, we parked near the local primary school and watched the children going past. After three-quarters of an hour, I saw a boy who looked like his son. At lunch time I returned again, and I saw that boy again. He look like my son, so I slowly followed him. The child saw me... and he kept turning around to look,” he said. “I followed him to a house and saw him enter it."

 

Days later, accompanied by a police officer, he returned to the village to look for the boy, first in official files and then at the school. This time the boy was not there. “The child hadn’t been registered with the police,” he said, dismayed. "Then we went to the school gates to look for the child. He wasn’t there. Maybe the person who bought him heard we were looking for the child and hid him.”

 

Back home in Kunming, he had to break the sad news to his wife. “I think the boy I saw is our son," he said, "but we don't know what else to do." Mr Li and his wife say they have not yet given up hope. They are determined to go back and look for the boy again. Meanwhile the list of missing children continues to grow, as ever more desperate parents contact Mr Li with their own stories of loss. All the parents say they will never give up looking for their children. But most of them realize it is likely to be a search that will last for the rest of their lives.