Xiong Baoxia, a 24-year-old woman from less developed east China's Jiangxi Province, has become the first nanny in booming south China's Guangdong Province, sparking fresh controversy over the moral issue of breast-feeding another woman's baby for money.

"There is nothing wrong with getting paid by offering a service,it is just the same as other jobs," said Xiong who is a high school graduate and speaks a little English.

She stopped nursing her 5-month-old son and asked her mother-in-law to take care of him so that she could work as a nanny in the city of Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong.

Her earning potential is far higher than in her previous jobs and any employment opportunities in her hometown of Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. The exact salary is still unknown because she is being trained at Shenzhen Zhongjia Household Services Company, with which she signed a labor contract on how to work in a stranger's family.

But Zhao Xiaofeng, an executive of the Shenzhen company presumes it will be more than 2,000 yuan (US$250) a month. A baby-sitter usually gets 800 yuan (US$100) in Shenzhen. Previous reports have said some women in Beijing have offered a monthly salary of up to 8,000 yuan (US$1,000) for a nanny.

Xiong misses her son and has considered returning to her hometown. But her decision to work as a nanny was supported by her husband, who said she could earn more money to make their son's life better.

The career of a nanny has a long history in China. Poor women used to live with rich families and breast-feed their babies. It vanished after 1949 when New China was founded, as it was regarded as an exploitation of the poor.

Many mothers are unable or unwilling to breast-feed babies because they have no milk, suffer from infectious diseases, or simply hope to maintain a slender figure. A nanny is their preferred choice, according to Zhao.

Three other women have also signed labor contracts with the company after Xiong did so, Zhao said.

Another household affairs company in the eastern city of Yangzhou tried to offer nanny services. However, it was forced to postpone the plan amid fierce media criticism, some of which labeled nanny an immoral practice.

The Shenzhen company and the four women including Xiong are also under the same pressure, but they insist that being a nanny is merely a job.

"We shall not simply say whether we are in favor of nanny or not, but it is very improper to encourage more women to work as nannies," said Shi Aizhong, vice director of Jiangxi Institute of Women.

More nannies mean more babies in poor families do not have access to breast milk and it is unfair for those babies, Shi explained.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2006)