He Benying, a 63-year-old retired preschool teacher in Ezhou City, Hubei Province, has adopted 22 abandoned children in total since 1981, with three of them still residing with her now.

After she set up Ezhou City's first private kindergarten, He's story made national news in 1984. In 2005, she was even given the title "Loving Mom" by local media. According to reports, He's family has been plunged into poverty after taking in so many orphans, but she stuck by her wards even after her husband divorced her.

However, things may not have been as they seemed. On July 3, the local civil affairs bureau officially accused He Benying of using the orphans to make money. 

According to an official from the bureau, He held several performances to raise money. "Prior to the show, she would distribute red envelopes to the audience and receive them back at the end, filled with money. On one occasion, she made over 1,500 yuan (US$198) in this manner." said the official quoted by the Beijing News.

During this time, the authority also granted 5,000 yuan (US$661) to He, and her life was greatly improved but she still persisted in asking for more money.

"She once asked the government to donate 20,000 yuan (US$2,644) towards He Tianyi's medical treatment. Tianyi is one of the orphans still living with her who suffers from cerebral palsy," said Wan Shoufan, another official from the civil affairs office.

"The Civil Affair Bureau launched a program to provide free medical treatment to orphans last year, and planned to pay for all of Tianyi's medical care. Amazingly, He refused for no reason and again asked for 2,300 yuan in compensation," Wan recalled.

At the end of December 2006, He failed to apply for social security for the three children since she had no certificates of adoption. Allegedly, this was due to the civil affairs bureau refusing to provide the certificates. Consequently, He Benying held the bureau responsible for her dire straits and began panhandling with the orphans, raising the ire of the local authorities.

Due to mounting poverty and the anger between the two sides, the three orphans have become unfortunate pawns in the game to decide their fate. 16-year-old He Linlin has dropped out of school while He Tianyi and two-year-old He Tao, who is too young to speak, are receiving no proper medical treatment. He Benying's earthly possessions now amount to a 10-square-meter house furnished with three beds, two desks and several chairs.

However, He still refuses to give up the children until she is given 100,000 yuan (US$13,223) in compensation, around the same amount she currently owes in debt.

(China.org.cn by Wu Nanlan July 19, 2007)