Illegal Surrogacy · Full chronicle and history

On November 5, anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi relayed the investigation feedback from Taicang authorities: the doctors in the underground surrogacy operating room were retirees, the nurses were freelancers, and the anesthesiologist was from a private medical institution who obtained anesthesia drugs through fraudulent prescriptions. When asked for the names of the involved institutions, Taicang authorities stated it was inconvenient to disclose them.

On November 2, Shangguan Zhengyi posted that the local authorities had confirmed the report was true. However, more than ten days have passed, and there is still no report on which units the doctors, anesthesiologists, and nurses came from, or where the anesthetic drugs were obtained. He is demanding that this information be made public.

On November 1, anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi reported that an underground operating room and laboratory for a surrogacy agency had been hidden in a rural courtyard in Guoyuan Town, Changsha County, Hunan Province. He claimed it had existed for nearly 10 years, operating daily from 5:30 AM to 8:30 AM, using unlicensed vehicles to transport medical staff and surrogates after body searches, and demanded a thorough investigation into the source of the medical staff and the origin of the anesthetic drugs.

On November 1, the Changsha County government responded to The Paper that public security, law enforcement, health, and other departments have arrived at the reported surrogacy agency to take measures.

On October 20, blogger Shangguan Zhengyi posted on Weibo to expose that an operating room and an embryo transfer laboratory of an underground surrogacy agency were found in a courtyard by the Liuxi River in Renhe Town, Baiyun District, Guangzhou. He reported the case to the police and brought officers to the scene, but police station personnel did not enter on the grounds that no one opened the door to lead the way, and they strictly verified his identity as a whistleblower.

After Shangguan Zhengyi publicly reported online, local Guangzhou authorities intervened and entered the compound in question, finding related medical devices and drugs; Shangguan Zhengyi called on the Guangzhou police to thoroughly investigate the illegal activities across the entire surrogacy chain.

On October 8, anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi reported via Weibo that an underground surrogacy operating room was hidden inside a villa in Taicang, Jiangsu, saying he had gone undercover for nearly 4 months and that over 100 procedures were performed there every month. After the report, police questioned him about the source of his leads and stopped him from filming; when he went out to buy water, he was surrounded by several people and not allowed to leave. Local authorities said they had verified the matter at the first opportunity, while Shangguan Zhengyi questioned why health supervision personnel arrived about 100 minutes later than the police.

On October 6, prosecutors in Los Angeles County, the United States, charged Xuan Guojun and his wife Zhang Siwei with conspiring to abuse 15 children, 14 of whom were born through surrogacy. Prosecutors said Xuan Guojun told the nannies to "hit harder" and personally beat the children; the couple had discussed inflicting corporal punishment without leaving marks and taught the children to deny being beaten. Both have pleaded not guilty, and bail was set at $20 million each.

A former Chinese official who once oversaw Xinjiang and his wife had 21 children, all of them US citizens, through California's surrogacy industry, and physically punished and abused them inside a mansion; the case is currently under US investigation.

A same-sex male couple of Chinese nationality residing in Malaysia entered Taiwan under the guise of tourism and promoted overseas surrogacy arrangements, violating relevant regulations; after negotiations with legislators and public petitions, they were swiftly fined and repatriated by the National Immigration Agency.

Anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi discovered through investigations that some underground surrogacy agencies intentionally have surrogate mothers conceive twins and sell the surplus infants through human traffickers for about 160,000 RMB each.

The Yuelu District Health Bureau reported the sealing of an illegal surgery room in a residential community, with 6 people under control; whistleblower Shangguan Zhengyi revealed that 2 key figures have been brought to justice.

Shangguan Zhengyi assisted police (Public Security) in arresting human traffickers and surrogacy agency personnel, and rescued a surrogate infant who was about to be sold.

CCTV cited data from the Ministry of Public Security stating that the number of criminal cases nationwide decreased by 16.1% year-on-year from January to May. However, the phenomenon of multiple regions investing financially in expanding detention centers and prisons has led to external doubts about the real public security situation.

Police suspect that at least 500 foreign children may have obtained Thai nationality through falsified birth registrations, with the case involving five private hospitals in Bangkok and suspects recruiting clients through Chinese-language chat groups.

The Thai man involved impersonated the biological father on birth registration documents, charging about 2,000 to 15,000 baht each time; police said some of the men had signed paternity acknowledgment documents for Chinese families.

On June 27, 2026, Taiwan's The Reporter published an in-depth investigation revealing that intermediaries are recruiting young Taiwanese women with high 'nutritional fees' to travel to mainland China for illegal egg retrieval in private residences or underground clinics, where they face insufficient anesthesia and serious health risks.

In 2025, Hong Kong recorded a total of 89,137 criminal cases, 50% more than the 59,225 cases in 2019. Among them, 43,212 were fraud cases, accounting for half, with victims defrauded of HK$8.1 billion. Fraud cases have multiplied fivefold from fewer than 10,000 in 2019.

Data shows that in 2024, the annual number of criminal cases filed by Chinese police (Public Security) exceeded 10 million, a sharp increase compared to 2000, with the majority of short-sentence cases involving various "pocket crimes."