A 24-year-old woman is under police investigation in Fuzhou after she attempted to mail her newborn baby to an orphanage wrapped in plastic bags.
The baby is currently in a stable condition at a hospital in Fuzhou police said in a statement Thursday the mother, surnamed Luo, was in custody for suspected child abandonment as investigations continue.
Luo placed the baby girl inside several black plastic bags Wednesday and then refused to let a courier inspect the contents of her package when he arrived to pick it up.
The courier, already on his way for delivery, became suspicious when he detected movement and noises from inside the package – and was shocked to find a live baby when he opened it, according to local media.
Police have identified the mother, who said she would take the baby home,” the official said.
Many Chinese internet users were outraged by such a prospect.
“Giving the baby back to the parents – so they can abandon her again?” said one user in a widely-shared post on Twitter-like service Weibo. “Such people don’t deserve to be parents, and the state should deprive them of such a right.”
There are around 460,000 orphans in China, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
China’s strict family planning policies and traditional preference for boys have often made baby girls more vulnerable to abandonment, particularly in rural areas.
Police have identified the mother, who said she would take the baby home,” the official said.
