Mrs Li and her husband, who long to adopt a baby, have tried for over a year to use an online adoption platform to search. But their hopes have been shattered.
Mrs Li says she saw a posting that read "Paid adoption: I'm a young woman, nine months pregnant, who can come to the adoptive family for delivery. Nutrition fee negotiable," on the online adoption website tz667.com.
She immediately called the expectant mother. But the couple later had to drop out due to an unreasonably high "nutrition fee."
"The prospective birth parents provided a long list of charges that added up to 80,000 yuan (US$13,045)," Mrs Li says.
The couple's experience is not the only case of high fees in online adoptions.
A father from Jiangsu Province put his three-year-old son on the "to-be-adopted list" online, saying he was divorced and could not raise the child on his own — and he demanded 100,000 yuan.
While formal adoptions involve highly complicated procedures, high-cost online adoptions have proliferated. But concerns have also grown over human trafficking, wide disregard for the law, and the lack of oversight and accountability to protect children's interests.
Skyrocketing adoption fees online have prompted adoptive parents to think "Aren't the parents selling their children?"
Under China's adoption law, biological parents can put their child up for adoption only when they are "in extreme difficulties and thus cannot raise the child."
A 2010 regulation issued by the Supreme People's Court and other government departments made it clear that those who "sell their biological children for the purpose of illegal profits shall be punished for child trafficking."
For eager and desperate infertile couples, the risk of adopting a trafficked baby is another hidden risk they face in addition to high nutrition fees.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, a total of 11,000 child-trafficking gangs have been busted and 54,000 children rescued between April 2009 and the end of 2012 as part of a special anti-trafficking campaign.
Even if the source of the baby is secured, adoptive parents need to overcome other difficulties before they can raise the child legally.
Adoptive parents must obtain a birth certificate for the baby. Without the document, the baby cannot obtain a hukou, or household registration, which determines whether the child can attend local public schools.
A forged birth certificate is priced at about 5,000 yuan online. According to an agent, it is not that difficult for those with connections to hospitals to produce birth certificates.
"Actually we are reluctant to adopt in this way. Aside from the huge amount of money, the legal risks are also very high," says Mrs Li. "I'm afraid I may lose both the baby and money in the end."
Mrs Li and her husband have waited for years to adopt a child left orphaned in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Wenchuan County of southwest China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.
"The local civil affairs department said the earthquake left 630 orphans, but we waited for five years in vain," says Mr Li. He says he is confident that he can offer an orphan a life better than the average child in China. Both Li and his wife are white-collar workers with decent pay. But he has grown impatient with the endless waiting.
Statistics released by the China Population Association at the end of last year show that 12.5 percent of people of childbearing age, or 40 million people, suffer from infertility. Among them, many live in despair.
"I went to the children's welfare institute many times, but came back disappointed every time," says a woman living in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang Province, who declines to be named.
She says she is not courageous enough to adopt an unhealthy or disabled child.
Sun Jing, an employee at Hangzhou Children's Welfare Institute, says that 99 percent of the children at the institute have disabilities or chronic diseases, which is the major reason they have not been placed for adoption.
"Many couples come with hope, but few leave with a child," says Sun.
The country's law has strict standards both on children who are allowed to be placed for adoption, and for prospective adoptive parents.
"If a couple goes against the country's family planning policy to have a second child, the child is not legally allowed to be adopted," says Chen Xiaode, who is in charge of children's welfare and charity causes at the Zhejiang Civil Affairs Bureau.
Chen adds that couples should not have biological children of their own if they want to adopt.
"People resort to online adoption because the legal procedure is too difficult to go through," says Chen.
Mrs Li and her husband had posted their wish to adopt a baby girl on the website tz667.com. The website, its Chinese name meaning "Home where dreams come true," has become a meeting place for adoptive families and prospective birth parents since its launch in 2007.
According to the website's "About us" page, the non-governmental organization had matched 789,203 babies with adoptive parents by the end of 2011.
Lawyers, researchers and government officials, however, have called for better protection of children's interests and streamlining of online adoptions. They also urged further standardization of adoption procedures and harsh punishment for activities involving child trafficking.
"Parents sell their healthy babies for good money and send disabled ones to welfare centers. That's why few people adopt children through legal means," says Chen.
Without supervision, online adoption will become a platform for human trafficking, says Jiang Haibin, a lawyer.
Chen suggests the government severely punish those who adopt and give away children privately, since he says only when people realize there is legal oversight will they stop going to the "black market."
"Adoption is not a business. Only by carrying out strict assessments of both families as stipulated by law does the government know if the adoption is best for the children," says Gao Huajun, deputy head of the China Philanthropy Research Institute.
Juveniles under 14 years old can be adopted if they fit any of the following conditions:
-Orphans without either parent
-Abandoned children whose biological parents cannot be found
-Children whose biological parents are incapable of raising them due to particular difficulty
Adopters should fit following conditions in general:
-Having no children
-Capable of raising and educating the adopted
-Having no disease believed medically unsuitable for adopting children
-Age 30 and above
Other specific regulations:
-Every adopter can adopt only one child. But adopters who take an orphan or a disabled or abandoned child from social welfare institutions are not restricted by this rule. And they don't have to be childless.
-Single male adopters who want to adopt a girl should be at least 40 years older than the adopted.
-The adoption should be out of the free will of both the adopters and the person or institution placing the child for adoption. It also should be agreed upon by those adopted when they are over 10 years old.
-The guardian cannot place a minor for adoption if the biological parents are out of full capability for civil conduct, except for the possibility that the parents may hurt the child.
-The adoption should be registered at the civil affairs bureau. The adoptive relationship is established since the day of registration.
-Public announcement is required for adopting abandoned children before registration.
-Adoption agreements can be made with both sides' consent. Adoption certification can be done upon the request of any side.
-People who place their children for adoption cannot give birth to another child against the one-child policy.
Foreigners who want to adopt a child in China should abide by the following rules:
-The adopter should be legally reviewed and approved by his/her home country's relevant department.
-The adopter should provide a legal document issued by his/her home country's authorities showing age, marital status, occupation, assets, health condition and whether he/she has had any criminal punishment. Such document should be certified by the foreign affairs department or its authorized agency of the adopter's home country, and then be certified by the Chinese embassy.
-The adopter should sign a written agreement with the person or institution that places the child for adoption and go to the provincial civil affairs bureau in person to register.
