Zheng Shuang, 29, was one of China’s most popular actresses after rising to fame ten years ago. Zhang Heng, 30, was a talented producer for a variety show. In 2018, the couple went public with a number of couple selfies, and afterwards often lovingly appeared in the spotlight – even on a hit reality series.
So fans were shocked when Zhang took to China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo earlier this month to claim that he has been stranded in the United States for over a year, left alone to “nurture and protect two young and innocent lives”.
The couple were believed to have split up while two surrogate mothers they hired were pregnant with their children, with Zheng accused of abandoning the babies.
It also published a recording of an alleged phone call, in which Zheng’s parents allegedly suggested abandoning the children or giving them up for adoption, while Zheng was reportedly frustrated that abortion was not a viable option, as the mothers on that were currently 7 months pregnant. .
The allegations shocked many in China, where family ties are typically nurtured, and sparked outrage on social media. It has also sparked debate about surrogacy in a country that is officially opposed to the practice but has a thriving underground market for it.
Firestorm of criticism
The scandal exploded on Weibo following Zhang’s post, with the accompanying hashtag garnered over 3 billion views and a torrent of criticism of Zheng. And the backlash was not limited to the online sphere.
Within days, Zheng was censored by the state media and condemned by China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) agencies. “Surrogacy is clearly prohibited in our country, and the disregard for life makes a person brim with anger,” state broadcaster CCTV said in a comment.
The CCP’s top committee overseeing political and legal affairs accused Zheng of “exploiting legal loopholes” by seeking surrogate mothers in the US, calling her actions “by no means law-abiding.” “Surrogacy is banned in China because it uses women’s wombs as an aid and sells life as a commercial product,” the committee wrote.
Zheng was dropped by several international brands, including the luxury fashion label Prada.
In response to the firestorm, Zheng wrote on Weibo on Tuesday that “this is a very sad and personal affair for me”. She did not directly address the allegations of the surrogacy dispute, but said she “had not violated state instructions while on Chinese soil and respected all laws and regulations abroad.”
Technically, Zheng was right.
While surrogacy has long been in the sights of the Chinese government and seen as a threat to its strict population control policies, the country’s national legislature has never passed legislation that explicitly prohibits it.
In 2001, the Department of Health issued a set of regulations on assisted reproductive technology, prohibiting medical institutions and health professionals from “using any form of surrogate technology”. The trade in semen, ova, zygotes and embryos is also strictly prohibited. Medical institutions can be fined up to 30,000 yuan ($ 4,632) for violations, according to the rules.
But the document did not prohibit individuals or agencies from providing or providing surrogacy services, or a list of associated penalties. The legal limbo has spawned a growing underground domestic surrogacy industry driven by tremendous demand as other Chinese couples go abroad for surrogacy services.
The US, where commercial surrogacy is allowed for foreigners in some states, has become a top choice for the wealthy Chinese elites thanks to its mature industry and high security standards. A child born in the US also gets US citizenship – a bonus for some Chinese parents.
An outright ban?
Debates on the ethical issues of surrogacy have taken place around the world, with opponents warning that the practice can lead to the exploitation and trafficking of women, the marketing of the female body and children, and the deepening of the inequality between rich and poor.
But the stern official condemnation of Zheng’s actions comes from a government that has been criticized for decades for using forced abortion and sterilization to limit the number of children in each family. While China’s one-child policy was relaxed in 2016 – allowing couples to have two children – the country now has a declining birth rate and a rapidly aging society, meaning it urgently needs more newborns to avert an impending population crisis.
The Chinese government has resorted to a range of policies to encourage young people to marry and have children – to very limited success. However, it still prohibits the commercial use of many reproductive techniques, such as egg freezing, that would give women the freedom to have children later in life.
Surrogacy, along with other forms of reproductive assistant technology, offers infertile couples the opportunity to have biological offspring. According to a 2009 survey by the China Population Association, 12.5% of Chinese of childbearing age – or 40 million people – were infertile. Surrogacy is also in demand from a large pool of older couples who have lost their only child, or who simply want a second, as well as a growing number of LGBT couples.
While the Chinese health authorities and other government agencies have launched periodic crackdowns, including a joint campaign in 2015 by a dozen government departments on surrogacy services, it has not been successful in the long run.
That has led some experts to propose that Beijing should legalize the practice at home, to provide more protection for surrogate mothers and to meet the growing demand from infertile couples and older parents in the wake of the loosening of the one-child policy. But many are against the idea, calling for the banning of surrogacy, citing a wealth of ethical issues.
Yuan Xiaolu, a Chinese lawyer, told the state-run Xinhua news agency that the “lost cost” of violating regulations is a major reason for the underground market to survive the crackdown.
A lack of industry regulation also means that there is little protection for surrogates and babies.
Last week, state-run news website The Paper reported that a couple had canceled an agreement with a surrogate mother in southwest China when they discovered she had syphilis during her pregnancy. The surrogate eventually raised the child herself, but still couldn’t get her registered three years later, because she sold the child’s birth certificate on the black market to pay for her hospital bills after having delivered by caesarean section.
End of a career?
After the Zheng controversy, there are renewed calls for China to outright ban all forms of surrogacy. But some analysts say this will just drive the practice further underground, as demand is likely to only increase in the future.
Whether the government will respond with another round of crackdown, or propose legislation to explicitly ban the practice remains to be seen.
But what seems certain is that Zheng’s career as an A-list actress has taken a hit. While the public outcry on Chinese social media has focused primarily on her seemingly non-maternal instincts, reportedly leaving her estranged partner alone and unable to return home with two American-born children due to the pandemic, it was clear that the state had taken her off more. get around surrogacy rules.
On Wednesday evening, the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration commented on Zheng’s scandal. “(She) bypassed the law to seek surrogacy abroad, and then wanted to abandon (her babies), actors like her lack personal virtue,” the comment said.
“We will not give the opportunity and the platform for celebrities embroiled in such scandals to appear in public.”
