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People will sell all sorts of things to feed an addiction, but a couple in China has gone further than ever before. The National Ledger reports...
“A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online games at Internet cafes...[a relative] turned the couple in after learning what [they] had done."
$9,700--A blogger for Joystiq writes, that was the amount the parents reeled in for the children before they were turned in.
“Li Lin and Li Juan sold their baby daughter for approximately $500 as well as two sons for $4,600 each. The Sanxiang City News reported that the couple were turned over to authorities by Li Lin's mother.”
While selling children is illegal in China, the couple’s defense was a little unorthodox. They claimed: they didn’t know.
Digital Journal says that isnt’ as far off as it may sound. They say other Chinese laws may have confused the young parents. They report...
“According to Sanxiang City News, the newspaper which originally reported on the couple's actions, neither Lin nor Juan knew that selling their children was illegal. In China, where a one-child policy is heavily enforced, it is likely that the couple--both allegedly under 21 years of age--sincerely did not know that their actions were against the law.”
A writer for Dvice reacts saying, we’ve seen this kind of behavior from electronics junkies before, but never like this.
“We've heard of young teens trading kidneys for iPads, virginities for iPhones and weirdos who eat deep-fried PSPs, but parents selling their kids to fund Internet gaming addictions? That's new and insane.”
But is it really that simple? A writer for Gather says that gaming or otherwise--an addiction is an addiction.
“It's more than a case of deadbeat parents; the egregious act is tantamount to a crack cocaine addiction. In both instances, the instrument of addiction is needed over and over as the person chases another high.”
Transcript by Newsy.
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