According to the Daily Mail, the infant was found lodged in a pipe directly beneath a toilet in a residential building in Jinhua in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang on Saturday afternoon.

Residents discovered the infant after hearing its cries and alerted local firemen who cut off the portion of the pipe in which the child was lodged and took it to a nearby hospital.

Doctors at Pujiang People's Hospital said the child, called Baby No. 59, appears to be about two days old and was suffering from a low heart rate and labored breathing in addition to having numerous bruises on his head, arms and legs.

Jinhua City police say they "seemed" to have found the parents, but refused to comment any further.

The case touched a nerve in China whose Twitter-like service, known as Sina Weibo, is filled with calls for the parents to be severely punished.

"The parents who did this have hearts even filthier than that sewage pipe," wrote one user.

Another said: “More and more young parents treat their own flesh and blood so viciously. Treating a life like this is no different than murder.”

Meanwhile, the hospital has been receiving donations of powdered milk and baby clothes to help defray the cost of the child's care.

Requests for adoption are also being made, such as this one that appeared on Weibo: “I am 25 years old and single! Can I adopt him?”

Doctors say the baby's condition is now stable and he is expected to survive his horrifying ordeal.

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