A 26-year-old mother from China has admitted to selling her two sons for about $11,600 (around Rs 10 lakh). The woman, named Huang, is from Guangxi province. She spent the money on clothes, luxury items, and gave large tips to live-streamers online, according to the South China Morning Post. She has now been sent to jail for over five years.

Huang was adopted as a child and did not study much in school. In October 2020, she sold her first son to a relative named Li for 45,000 yuan (about Rs 5 lakh). She said she couldn’t take care of the child because she had money problems and did not know who the father was. 

Li’s family wanted to adopt because they could not have children. Huang reportedly used all the money to give big tips to online live-streamers and buy expensive things. Officials said Huang had a second baby on purpose in 2022 so she could sell him again when she ran out of money. She paid a broker 38,000 yuan (about Rs 4.5 lakh) for her newborn son, Guyu.

The broker then sold the baby for 103,000 yuan (about Rs 12 lakh). Huang used all this money on shopping for herself and giving big tips to online live-streamers. In April 2022, the two boys were rescued after officials found suspicious chat messages talking about their sale. After being saved, the boys were taken in by local child welfare authorities and are now waiting to be adopted.

On July 8, 2025, the court in Fuzhou Jin'an District found Huang guilty of fraud and child trafficking. She was sentenced to five years and two months in prison and fined 30,000 yuan (about Rs 3 lakh). Huang’s helpers, Li and her ex-landlord Wei, were also punished. Wei got seven months in jail, and Li got nine months in jail with a one-year suspended sentence for buying a trafficked child.

Experts say child trafficking is still a big problem in China. Many families want male children to carry on the family name, which has led to illegal adoptions. However, strict new laws are trying to stop this crime.