MEMPHIS, Feb. 27 — Armed with baby pictures and tearful indignation, the two couples come to court each day with their lawyers and supporters aligned on either side of the cherry-paneled chambers. For five years, Jack and Casey He and Jerry and Louise Baker have been tussling over a child who was born to the Hes, but who ended up with the Bakers for what both sides initially agreed was a temporary arrangement.

The Hes say their daughter was "kidnapped by white Christians" who have been using their wealth and the courts to their advantage. The Bakers say the birth parents are unstable and abdicated their parental rights by failing to provide child support or to visit their daughter for months on end.

Although the couples signed papers describing the setup as temporary, the Bakers say there was a separate verbal agreement giving them permanent custody of the child, a contention the birth parents deny. "Why would we visit our daughter every week if we wanted to give her away?" Mrs. He asked tearfully.

The Hes are facing a deportation order for unrelated reasons, but have been allowed to stay in the country until the custody dispute is resolved.

The Bakers' lawyers say that what ultimately matters is the welfare of 5-year-old Anna Mae He, who has seen her biological parents only once in more than three years as a result of a court order. "What kind of quality of life is the child going to have in China?" asked Larry Parrish, a lawyer for the Bakers. "Common sense dictates that to take a child out of an environment where she's firmly attached and settled is the ultimate devastation."

But in this case, common sense is a matter of debate. The trial, in its second week, has exposed a chasm between American and Chinese cultures, conflicting notions about what defines a good parent and the extent to which the legal system can become a wedge between parents and their children.

Each day dozens of Chinese from the Memphis area flock to the Shelby County Courthouse wearing yellow ribbons and buttons demanding the family's reunification. Although the case has received little notice outside Tennessee, it has been closely followed in the Chinese-language press, inflaming passions among Chinese-Americans and drawing concern from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, which has sent a representative to the trial.

Cecilia Lin, who comes to court each day and helps serve Chinese food to spectators during breaks, said Asians could not understand how the Bakers' material wealth would trump blood ties between mother and child.

"Some Americans think they can provide better environment for children because of money, but Chinese think love and enduring care is more important," said Ms. Lin, 62, a Taiwanese-born painter in Memphis.

The Hes' troubles began in 1998, soon after the pregnant Mrs. He arrived in this country. A doctoral candidate in economics at the University of Memphis, Mr. He had only recently met Mrs. He in China through an arranged marriage. Mrs. He, 35, a store manager in China, spoke no English and still struggles with the language.

Soon after her arrival, Mr. He was accused of sexual assault by a fellow student. University officials suspended his scholarship and student stipend, the couple's primary means of support. Mr. He's student visa was revoked, and immigration officials began deportation proceedings against the couple. Mr. He was eventually acquitted of the assault charges.

As their financial and legal problems deepened and Mrs. He's pregnancy advanced, a friend suggested that they contact Mid-South Christian Services, a private adoption agency in Memphis. In their testimony this week, agency employees said the couple, who had no health insurance, were seeking a foster family of means to take care of the child while they sorted out their finances. Legal documents they later signed spelled out the arrangement as temporary.

What the couple says they did not understand was that the word "temporary" was not what it seemed: regaining custody required the blessing of the Bakers and the consent of a judge. Agency and court employees and a Chinese language translator have testified that no one explained the complex nature of the agreement. The couple, they said, was not advised to hire a lawyer.

Until the child's second birthday, they made weekly visits to the Baker home. Tensions increased after Anna Mae's first birthday, when the Hes asked a judge for custody. Though they had found work at Chinese restaurants, the request was denied because they lacked financial stability.

Both sides agree that the discord surrounding the visits reached a peak on Anna Mae's second birthday, when the Bakers refused to allow the Hes to take her out of the house for a family portrait. The Bakers called the police, who, Mr. He said, warned them to stay away from the Baker home or face arrest. Fearful of further trouble with the law, Mr. He says he complied. What Mr. He says he did not know was that under Tennessee law, a four-month lapse in visits can be construed as abandonment, part of the legal argument for terminating parental rights.

David Siegel and Richard Gordon, lawyers for the Hes, argue that the Bakers planned all along to keep Anna Mae. They cite their foster parent application to the agency, which mentions their desire to adopt a child and raise him or her in a Christian home.

Mrs. Baker also kept a secret journal titled "Visits from Jack and Casey," which Mr. Siegel contends shows the Bakers' true intentions. The entries document Mrs. Baker's distress over the bonding of mother and child and growing frustration as the birth parents demanded more time with their daughter. "We would like to get visits to every other week," she wrote when Anna Mae was 8 months old. "We feel like they would wean away, but the last two visits we could see Casey is wanting to come more." The Bakers have four children of their own.

The legal fight has nearly bankrupted the Bakers, who recently sold their house to pay their lawyers. Mr. Baker, 45, is a mortgage banker and his wife, 42, is a part-time Bible teacher. The Hes, who have subsequently had two children, are being represented without charge.

In seeking to terminate the Hes' parental rights, the Bakers depict Mr. He as untrustworthy and his wife as prone to hysterics. Mrs. He once picketed the Bakers' home, and on another occasion, they say, tried to wrest Anna Mae away during a chance encounter at a Wal-Mart. "To me, if Casey truly loved her daughter, she would leave her with us," Mrs. Baker said. She added that a life in China, where female babies are sometimes deemed inferior to males, would be a hardship.

A Circuit Court judge, Robert Childers, who has been hearing the custody case for 12 hours each day, weekends included, is expected to issue a ruling in the coming weeks. The Hes fear that even if they win, a drawn-out appeals process will further prolong the separation between child and parents. A court order has kept the Hes from having contact with their daughter since 2002.

Chris Zawisza, director of the Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Memphis Law School, said the convoluted and drawn-out legal fight partly obscured what in many ways was a struggle over cultural values. Much like the impassioned tug of war over Elián González, the child who was ultimately returned to his father in Cuba, the clash over Anna Mae pits the perceived superiority of American culture over that of another country. "The case shows we still don't have consensus in our country about a parent's freedom to choose how and where they raise their children," Ms. Zawisza said.

Mr. He says that in China, Anna Mae would benefit from an adoring extended family, many of whom are well educated. Mr. He also says that he has been offered a job in China, and that he will make enough money to provide his daughter a comfortable life. "If we do not have a reunification, I'm afraid our daughter will grow up thinking we abandoned her," he said. "I think that is worse than anything else."