A Chinese woman with a troubled marriage told her family that her baby died upon birth. In reality, she sold the infant for about US$7,000.

That woman is now facing human trafficking charges for colluding with her doctor. Her case is an indicator that despite the country's 1.3 billion population, it still has a lucrative baby market, reports NDTV.

Like Us on Facebook

Huang, the surname of the woman, has a firstborn son from a previous marriage and often fights with her present husband. She said that worry over the impact of the baby on her first child made her sell the newborn for which she was paid CNY42,000.

Of that amount, the obstetrician who helped find buyers got CNY7,000, reports Xinhua.

The whistleblower for this case was the mother-in-law of Huang who suspected her daughter-in-law sold the baby and informed police in central Henan Province.

The high-demand for male babies is due to the traditional preference for boys, who, when they become adults, are expected to take care of their parents in their old age. Also being blamed is China's one-child policy.

For women who could bear children, some resort to gender testing to ensure that the one child she would be allowed to keep and raise would be a male; otherwise, female fetuses are aborted.

However, Beijing has banned gender testing and this week prohibited the sending of blood samples to overseas laboratories as their way of going around the ban.

Since the start of the year, China had arrested over 100 people suspected of trafficking newborn infants and older children. The operations resulted in rescue of 37 babies.

TagsChinese mother, child market, baby selling, One Child Policy, gender imbalance, Human Trafficking