Pictures that call for the "death penalty for all child traffickers and immediate execution " have gone viral on Wechat. As of Thursday night, more than 540,000 people have expressed agreement with a proposal that demands death for all child traffickers, by forwarding it on Wechat.

Facing public pressure, Chinese law professors are voicing their opinions on all online platforms and media they can access, with some suggesting web users not to be taken in by some public pages that are just attracting hits.

There were no official statistics about human trafficking in China. The frequent media reports on police raids on child trafficking gangs, and the universal notices for missing children on lamp posts and on the Internet imply that it is prevalent. The rapid spread of the post on social media reflects the fact that it echoes people's long-held concerns.

The viral call for the death sentence for all child traffickers on Chinese social media has led to legal professors' widespread defense of the existing punishments, although they also admit that greater punishment for buyers may be part of the solution. Qi Xiaoling, a law professor, said prescribing death for every trafficker may lead to more extreme cases– such as killing the kidnapped child, to prevent police from finding the evidence of his crime.

According to China's criminal law, whoever abducts and traffics a child shall be sentenced to at least five years in prison. Under eight aggravating circumstances, including trafficking more than three persons, sexual abuse, and use of violent means, the trafficker shall be sentenced to more than 10 years, up to life imprisonment. If the circumstances are especially serious, he/she shall be sentenced to death and also to confiscation of property. And the death sentence, which netizens have called for, has never been ruled out.

Vocabulary：

Child trafficker, viral, take in, abduct, aggravating, confiscation of property, rule out