In bài nàyIn China they are eating babies
, in Loma Linda, they are — Harvesting OrgansThe following is excerpted from an article in the January 1996 issue of Rutherford, the official journal of the Rutherford Institute (Charlottesville, VA). We have added subheads.When reports of Chinese citizens eating human fetuses for health reasons surfaced in Hong Kong last year, many dismissed them as fiction . . , but when Eastweek and Eastern Express, two English-language publications based in Hong Kong, investigated, the reporters were in for a shock.
DISCOVERY IN CHINA
One investigator feigned illness and asked a Shenzhen hospital doctor for fetuses. Holding up a fist-sized glass bottle stuffed with ten thumb-sized unborns, the doctor said, "[They were] all aborted this morning. You can take them. We are a state-run hospital and don’t charge anything." A private hospital spokesman offered to sell the reporters full-term unborn, which he claimed "contain the best healing qualities." Zou Qin, a doctor who claimed to have aborted several hundred unborn and eaten 100 fetuses herself, said, "People normally prefer [fetuses from] young women, and even better, the first boy and a male." She justifies the practice: "They are wasted if we don’t eat them . . Zou Qin has fed fetuses to her sister’s children. "I wash them with clear water until they look transparent white and then stew them. Making soup is best." A photo depicts Zou Qin smiling, holding up a tiny fetus which hasn’t made it to her bowl yet.
And MORE
The following is the text of an article which originally appeared in the Hong Kong Eastern Express on April 12, 1995. For more information, contact Bruce Gilley at The Eastern Express in Hong Kong, telephone 011-852-27071111, or fax 011-852-27071122. No one could accuse The Chinese of being squeamish about the things they eat - monkeys' brains, owls' eyes, bears' paws and deep fried scorpions are all items on The menu. But most dishes revered as national favorites sound as harmless as boiled rice when compared to the latest pint de jour allegedly gaining favor in Shenzhen - human fetus. Rumors that dead embryos were being used as dietary supplements started to spread early last year with reports that some doctors in Shenzhen hospitals were eating dead fetuses after carrying out abortions. The doctors allegedly defended their actions by saying the embryos were good for their skin and general health.
A trend was set and soon reports circulated that doctors in the city were promoting fetuses as a human tonic. Hospital cleaning women were seen fighting each other to take the treasured human remains home. Last month, reporters from EastWeek - a sister publication of Eastern Express - went to Shenzhen to see if the rumors could be substantiated. On March 7, a reporter entered the state-run Shenzhen Heath Center for Women and Children feigning illness and asked a female doctor for a fetus. The doctor said the department was out of stock but to come again. The next day the reporter returned at lunch time. The doctor eventually emerged from the operating theatre holding a fist size glass bottle stuffed with thumbsized fetuses. She said: "There are 10 fetuses here, all aborted this morning. You can take them. We are a state hospital and don't charge anything."Normally, we doctors take them home to eat - all free. Since you don't look well, you can take them." Not every state hospital is as generous with its dead embryos as the Health Center for Women and Children. At the Shenzhen People's Hospital, for example, the reporter was in for a surprise. When a Ms. Yang, the head nurse, was asked for fetuses, she looked anxious and asked other staff to leave. After closing the door, she asked the undercover buyer in a low voice: "Where did you (get to) know that we sell fetuses?" The reporter answered: "A doctor friend in Hong Kong told me." "Who? What is his/her name?" The reporter was not prepared for this line of questioning and could not come up with a name. Yang told him that fetuses were only for sale within the hospital, and were not for public purchase. She added that some staff would, however, sell the fetuses on to Hong Kong buyers.
The reporter learned that the going rate for a fetus was $10 but when the merchandise was in short supply, the price could go up to $20. But these prices are pin money compared to those set by private clinics, which are said to make a fortune selling fetuses. One chap on Bong Men Lao Street charges $300 for one fetus. The person in charge of the clinic is a man in his 60's. When he saw the ailing reporter, he offered to take an order for fetuses that had reached full-term and which, it is claimed, contain the best healing properties. When a female doctor named Yang - no relation - of Sin Hua clinic was asked whether fetuses were edible, she said emphatically: "Of course they are. They are even better than placentas.
"They can make your skin smoother, your body stronger and are good for kidneys. When I was in an army hospital in Jiangti province, I often brought fetuses home. They were pink, like little mice, with hands and feet. Normally, I buy some pork to make soup (with the fetuses added). I know they are human beings, and (eating them) feels disgusting. But at that time, it was already very popular."
A Mr. Cheng from Hong Kong claims he has been eating fetus soup for more than six months. To begin, the man, in his 40's, would make the trip to Shenzhen frequently for business and was introduced to fetuses by friends. He says he met a number of professors and doctors in government hospitals who helped him buy the fetuses. "At first, I felt uncomfortable, but doctors said the substances in fetuses could help cure my asthma. I started taking them and gradually, the asthma disappeared," Cheng said.
Now, Cheng only eats fetuses occasionally to top up his treatment, but there was a time when he made regular cross border trips with the gruesome merchandise. "Everytime [I made the trip], I carried a Thermos flask to Shenzhen and brought the fetuses back to Hong Kong to make soup. If they gave me 20 or 30 at a time, I put them in the refrigerator. I didn't have the soup every day - it depended on the supply.
"Usually, I washed the fetuses clean, and added ginger, orange peel and pork to make soup. After taking it for a while, I felt a lot better and my asthma disappeared. I used to take placenta, but it was not so helpful." When asked if he was concerned about the fetuses containing diseases, Cheng was dismissive. "I bought them from government hospitals. They would check the pregnant women before doing the operations and only sell them to me if there was no problem. Also, I always boil them over high heat which kills any bacteria." Although Cheng has overcome any squeamishness over eating fetus soup, he says he draw the line at consuming whole dead embryos. He also refrains from telling people of his grisly dietary habits.
Zou Qin, 32, a woman from Hubei with the fine skin of a someone several years younger, attributes her well preserved looks to a diet of fetuses. As a doctor at the Lun Hu Clinic, Zou has carried out abortions on several hundred patients. She believes fetuses are highly nutritious and claims to have eaten more than 100 in the past six months. She pulls out a fetus specimen before a reporter and explains the selection criteria. "People normally prefer (fetuses of) young women, and even better, the first baby and a male." She adds: "They are wasted if we don't eat them. The women who receive abortions here don't want the fetuses. Also, the fetuses are already dead [when we eat them]. We don't carry out abortions just to eat the fetuses.
"Before, my sister's children were very weak. I heard that fetuses were good for your health and started taking some to my nephews," Zou says, without remorse. "I wash them with clear water until they look transparent white and then stew them. Making soup is best." But she admits there are drawbacks to this dubious delicacy. "Fetuses are very smelly and not everybody can take the stink," she said. "You can also make meat cakes by mixing fetuses with minced meat but you have to add more ginger and chives to get rid of the smell."The fetuses allegedly eaten by the Chinese are all provided by China's extensive abortion services. Last year, doctors in the People's Hospital - the biggest hospital in Shenzhen - carried out more than 7,000 terminations, 509 on Hong Kong women. The Hong Kong Family Planning Association (FPA) estimates that 24 per cent of all abortions on Hong Kong women are performed in the dubious surroundings of a Chinese hospital. A Ms. Li from Hong Kong has had two abortions in Shenzhen but has never heard of people eating fetuses. "But I didn't want the babies, so after the abortions, I just left them with the hospital," she says. "I didn't want to look at them, and I certainly didn't want to keep them. Fetuses of two or three months are just water and blood when they come out. They are so small, how can you eat them?"
Dr. Warren Lee, president of the Hong Kong Nutrition Association, is aware of the unsavory rumors. "Eating fetuses is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine and is deeply founded in Chinese folklore. In terms of nutrition, a fetus would be a good source of protein and fats, and there are minerals in bone. But I don't know if eating fetuses is just folklore or more than that," he says. According to Lee, it is conceivable that fetuses are rich in certain hormones that are beneficial to the adult human body, but should this be the case, the fetal matter would have to be converted into an indictable form for best results, as most hormones including the hormone for diabetes, insulin - are broken down in the digestive system before they have a chance to be absorbed by the body.
-------------------
UNITED NATIONS KNEW THAT :
Beijing, 1995: The Godless Triad The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, was hosted live on the Internet - one of the first of such events on the Web, and thousands of women the world over logged on. Conservative Christians could not fathom why the rest of the world was not outraged by the convergence of their three arch enemies: women, the communist Chinese, and the Clintons. James Dobson, of the ultra-conservative Focus on the Family book and radio empire, covered the event in his August 1995 newsletter titled,
Position on United Nations Conference on Women. Uncertain that he could move apathetic Americans with bland facts, Dobson quoted a World Magazine article about the Chinese dining on aborted fetuses as evidence of this godless triadWorld Magazine's :"Cultural Editor" Mindy Belz broke the story of fetal cannibalism to the Christian West with her article "Unspeakable Delicacy". Belz's source was "The Eastern Express," a small, now-defunct, English-language tabloid out of Hong Kong. Bruce Gilley authored the piece titled
Aborted Babies Sold As Health Food for $10 in March of 1995
Dead Newborn Infant Lies In Gutter Like Trash In China
A morning in the Chinese
province of Hunan brings an unimaginable sight of cruelty and horror. Lying in
the gutter of a bustling main road is the tiny, twisted body of a dead baby
girl. She is naked, surrounded by only dirty pieces of hospital gauze. Buses and
bicycles speed past the corpse, spraying it with mud.
Nameless and unwanted,
the newborn’s been dumped by the roadside during winter. Few of the locals
hurrying by give her a second glance. To them, she is just one of thousands of
baby girls abandoned each year as a result of China’s ruthless one-child policy.
“I think the baby had just died,” says a woman who was the only person to
attempt to rescue the infant. “I touched her skin, and it was warm. Blood was
still coming out of her nose.”
Under China’s strict family-planning
laws, couples in urban areas are allowed only one child; couples in most rural
regions can try for a second if their first-born is a girl. Those who have an
illegal baby are subject to crippling fines, sterilization, and other severe
penalties. To avoid punishment, many parents go to the desperate measure of
deserting their illegal offspring. If their child is a girl--considered less
valuable than boys in rural, traditional parts of China, like Hunan--the chances
of this heartbreaking fate are immeasurably higher.
To the Chinese authorities,
abandoned girls are merely worthless trash. “I called the emergency services,
but nobody came,” says the woman who found this latest little victim. (For fear
of official reprisal, she wishes to remain anonymous.) “The baby was lying right
near the government tax office, so many people in government just walked past.”
Eventually, an old man picked up the child, put her in a box, and dropped her in
a garbage bin. When the police finally arrived, they showed no interest in
investigating her death. They instead arrested the woman who’d tried to save
her. “I took some photographs, because it was so terrible; the police were more
worried about my pictures than the baby,” she says. The police only released the
woman once she handed over her film.
The chilling death of this baby, and
countless others like her, reveals the gross inhumanity behind the enforcement
of China’s one-child policy. The world’s most populous country with 1.3 billion
people, China introduced the policy in 1979 in response to a rapid increase in
the birth rate under former leader Mao Tse-tung, and a fear that the exploding
population couldn’t be fed. Today, China’s leaders claim that the policy has
been a great success, preventing an extra 300 million births.
Most
Chinese recognize the need to keep the birth rate down, but the government’s
methods continue to cause untold misery. “What’s happening since the one-child
policy was introduced as a national catastrophe,” says Wu Hongli a woman’s aid
worker in Shanghai who does outreach work in rural communities. “So many
families have lost their children and had their lives destroyed.”
While
abandonment is shockingly common, say Wu, some parents who give birth “outside
the plan” are so terrified of being caught, they even kill their child. “One
father dropped his daughter down an old well so no one would ever know she
existed.”
Each region in China has a target “birth quota” for the number
of babies allowed to be born per year. Local government offices and state-owned
factories appoint female staff to monitor every woman’s menstrual cycle. Before
conceiving a baby, women must have a “birth permit”; those who don’t, or who’ve
already given birth have their contraceptive usage monitored. Though condoms and
the Pill are available, the most common form of birth control is the metal IUD;
it’s inserted at government clinics and detectable by X-ray to ensure it hasn’t
been removed without authorization.
Officially, the state condemns the
use of force or cruelty in enforcing quotas. But in practice, officials feel
pressure to achieve low birth rates or face disgrace and demotion, causing many
to resort to brutal tactics. Population officials, “abortion squads” regularly
conduct midnight raids into the homes of women suspected of becoming pregnant
illegally. These squads drag offenders into custody and detain them until they
submit to an abortion, even if they’re eight to nine months pregnant.
Gao Xio Duan, a former population-control official who fled to America
three years ago, spoke out about the methods used to terminate illegal
pregnancies. Describing herself as a “monster”, she told a U.S. Congressional
committee how she had helped doctors inject lethal formaldehyde into babies’
skulls during forced abortions. “I saw how the baby’s lips were sucking and how
its limbs were stretching,” she said of one such instance. “Then the doctor
injected the poison into its head, and the child died and was thrown in the
trash.”
Some pregnant women try to avoid capture by going into hiding.
But often, they return after the birth to find their homes burned to the ground
and their other family members beaten or persecuted. In an extreme case last
year, a man in Changsha, a Hunan province, died after being tortured for
refusing to reveal the whereabouts of his pregnant wife. If couple successfully
give birth to an illegal baby, the face further punishment, including fines of
around 10,000 yuan ($1500)--seven times more than the average peasant’s annual
income--compulsory sterilization, forced confiscations of property. Children
born this way are denied schooling, medical care, and other social benefits.
Many peasants believe only sons can carry on the family line. “They
think it greatly dishonors their ancestors if they don’t produce a male heir,”
says outreach worker Wu Hongli. Also, daughters usually live with their
husband’s family after marriage and are, therefore, considered a wasted
investment. “Although the one-child policy allows many rural couples to have
another baby if their first is a girl, it spells disaster if their second child
is also female,” says Wu. Such unwanted girls are often dubbed “maggots in the
rice”. In northeast China, one man was so distraught when his second-born was a
girl that he smothered bother her and his other healthy daughter. “It is a sin
not to have a boy. I will try again for a son when I get out of prison,” he told
police.
In China’s modern cities, the traditional desire for boys has
all but disappeared. But coupled with the one-child policy, its endurance in the
country side is having devastating social consequences. An estimated 17 million
girls are “missing” from the population nationwide. Infanticide and abandonment
account for some of these lost females, with those who survive ending up in
bleak state orphanages--if they’re lucky. Other factors include sex-selective
abortion, which are technically outlawed, but are still readily available
through the use of ultrasound for a small bribe. According to official figures,
97.5 percent of all aborted fetuses in China are female. Failure to register the
birth of girl babies is another factor; it’s believed many parents hide their
daughters, or sell them to infertile couples, thereby making them invisible to
authorities.
The result is a chronic imbalance in the male and female
populations. Already, millions of rural Chinese men are unable to find a wife.
To overcome this, young girls who leave their villages to look for work are
often tricked and drugged by traffickers and then sold to older single men in
distant provinces, where they don’t even speak the same dialect. This imbalance
is set to worsen, too. A decade ago, the birth records of boys versus girls in
some countryside areas where two to one. Today, the ratio is often as high as an
alarming six to one.
Still, the Chinese government remains committed to
its one-child policy. Wu Hongli despairs over this situation. “Of course,
population is a serious issue,” she says, “but so are human rights. The
authorities are making no attempt to implement more humane family planning.” She
also laments official apathy toward teaching the population about the equal
value of baby girls. “Educational programs have had a lot of success in rural
areas, but there is still a vast amount to be done. So many tragedies are
ignored every day that it makes me want to cry. ”Looking at the anonymous baby
girl whose brief life ended on a roadside only a few weeks ago, it’s impossible
not to feel the same way.
In bài này