Elephant News (大象新聞), a platform operated by Henan Broadcasting System, has collaborated with anti-human trafficking activist Shangguan Zhengyi (上官正義) to expose an illegal surrogacy lab in Changsha, Hunan province.
Their undercover investigation revealed a makeshift facility equipped with wards, operating theaters and a laboratory. Among the nine women found at the site was a 41-year-old deaf-mute woman from Shanxi province who communicated via sign language that she had received 280,000 yuan ($38,600) for serving as a surrogate mother. The circumstances suggest possible coercion, as she indicated being brought to the facility by “outside people” (外面的人) and seemed uncertain how long she had been there. Reporters documented vehicles delivering more than 17 women to the facility over two days.
Elephant News has reported the case to authorities, and related hashtags including “Underground surrogacy handlers show strong counter-surveillance awareness,” have trended on Weibo.
