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Why is surrogacy in China proving so difficult to ban despite the crackdown?
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Phoebe Zhangin ShenzhenPublished: 3:56pm, 10 Sep 2026Two laboratories in central China have been shut down for alleged surrogacy activities, an underground practice that persists despite repeated crackdowns.
On Wednesday, the health bureau in Changsha, Hunan province, said six people were detained after a tip about a “laboratory that illegally uses assisted reproductive technologies”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
A day earlier, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, in neighbouring Hubei province, announced that an illegal lab had been shut down and eight people detained. Police are investigating and will “severely punish any illegal activities”.
A long-time anti-trafficking activist and whistle-blower, who uses the pseudonym Shangguan Zhengyi, was responsible for both tips, according to his posts on social media this week.
He wrote on Wednesday that he had gone undercover for eight months, finding that the Changsha lab was operated by a surrogacy agency. Operations started at around 11am, with cars and staff circling the area on lookout, he added.
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On Tuesday, Shangguan Zhengyi alleged that the Wuhan lab was equipped with a surgery room and embryo incubator. The doctor who operated at the facility came from the Hubei Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, he claimed.
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