Chinese Baby Found in Trash With Throat Cut Survives
A website analyzing popular Internet culture among Chinese "netizens" reported Wednesday on the shocking discovery of a newborn girl found with her throat cut and abandoned inside a trash can. The story has simultaneously outraged and warmed the hearts of readers, as the premature baby has survived.
ChinaSmack, a Shanghai-based publication covering stories, images and videos popular among Chinese web users, shared on Wednesday a story submitted by "Li" about the abandoned child. The report and images of the baby have shown up on other popular Asian social websites, like Weibo and in AllKPop.com's forums.
The report reveals:
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"On June 23, an old scavenger found a premature-born baby girl while digging in a trashcan in front of a residential building on Yingshan Road, Anshan City, Liaoning Province. The baby girl's throat was cut, deep into her windpipe, and was abandoned with the placenta wrapped in a plastic bag. When she was found, her skin had turned bluish and purpleish due to an oxygen deficit. After emergency treatment, the baby survived."
The child was reportedly found by "a rag-collecting scrap-peddling old man," according to a user who shared the report in a China Daily forum. According to the report, "The old man and residents nearby called the police and had the preemie rushed to hospital, where she received an emergency operation."
"The baby's neck was almost cut half way through, and if it went half a centimeter deeper, she wouldn't have survived," a doctor who helped treat the child said, according to ChinaSmack.
The unnamed baby was born premature at around 32-43 weeks, according to Doctor Li Haiyan. The doctor cited that the child was facing a triple threat when she was found, and reportedly called her "lucky" for survivng a premature birth, extended lack of oxygen and the nearly-fatal cut to her tiny throat.
Reports indicate that the child remains in critical condition, and was being fed intravenously, as she is too weak to take milk.
ChinaSmack reports that the baby's neck wound was "clean and neat" and most likely done by "a person." It adds that "a scar will accompany the child for the rest of her life."
Members of the community where the baby was found have reportedly promised to send the child to an orphanage or similar child care agency once she is able to leave the hospital.
Reports did not indicate whether police had identified who may have abandoned the baby, or how her case was being pursued.
Those responding to news of the child's survival have found it difficult to believe her case.
"Such 'parents' should be dragged out and fed to the dogs!" wrote one reader on ChinaSmack.
Another wrote: "If you don't want the baby, giving it to an orphanage, or another household, or even selling it would've been better than cutting her throat and abandoning her. This is murder!!"
Ministry of Tofu, an independent website focusing on Chinese culture and news, reports that a fundraising drive had been launched for the child.
