A man was arrested after bringing a pregnant 12-year-old for a checkup in Xuzhou City Central Hospital, Jiangsu province.
The man claimed that the girl is his wife, and is a youthful looking 20-year-old. They were accompanied by an older woman claiming to be the girl's mother-in-law.
A staff member reportedly said that it was obvious the girl was just a child, and nowhere near 20 years old.
The Sun quoted the man as saying: “I took her here to be examined — just do your job. Stop asking so many questions.”
The girl had a large baby bump and stretch marks and was unable to answer questions as she could not speak Mandarin.
When the police were called to the hospital, they discovered the girl is not from China as she did not have any form of identification.
Police found the girl didn’t possess any form of identification and have determined she is not from China.
Further investigation has confirmed that the girl, named Lan Lan was in fact abducted from Vietnam and sold as a foreign bride.
The People’s Procuratorate of Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, released a statement on its WeChat page on the 10th of October following wide coverage by the local media.
In the statement, Lan Lan said she was abducted by two Vietnamese and taken to Henan province in 2014, after which she was "adopted" by a woman in Xuzhou.
The woman then charged a 35-year old man 30,000 yuan to take her as his "wife", with the money as a "betrothal gift".
There is a long history of men in southern parts of China purchasing "foreign brides" especially from Vietnam, as the men there have difficulty finding brides due to financial status.
The case is under further investigation.
