Pre-wedlock-born child, grandfather illegally held

Eight officials in Xiangyang township of Nan'an county, Fujian Province, have been either removed from their posts or demoted for their role in the detention of the elderly father and young daughter of a man who broke family planning regulations by conceiving his only child out of wedlock, reported the China Youth Daily Sunday.

The punitive measures, which were released by the publicity department of the CPC Nan'an County Committee, were taken after a Sina Weibo user named Lin Tiesheng said his 63-year-old father, Lin Jinzhen, and his now two-year-old daughter were taken away and detained Tuesday, after a dispute with local family planning officials.

Lin posted three photos Wednesday afternoon showing eight local villagers including two, two-year-old children behind bars.

Lin wrote that he and his wife conceived their child before they were married which local family planning officials said was against regulations and ordered them to have an abortion, or they would not be issued a birth certificate.

The couple gave birth in another place and Lin now lives and does business in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Lin also claimed that the illegal detention center has been in use for more than a decade.

Dai Weiming, a local family planning official, said the elder Lin was taken into custody because they needed some information about the birth of his undocumented grandchild.

Yan Guotai, a township official, said they were planning to charge the family a social maintenance fee of 21,000 yuan ($3,370) for conceiving the child before they were married.