A 22-year-old Chinese woman's account of how she was lured into the country's illegal surrogacy industry before suffering a miscarriage went viral on social media this week and raised heated debates over women's rights and social inequality.
本周，一名22岁中国女性讲述自己如何被诱骗加入国内非法代孕行业并最终遭遇流产的经历，在社交媒体上迅速传播，引发了关于女性权利和社会不平等的热烈讨论。
Surrogacy is banned in China, and authorities have vowed to severely crack down on illegal practices, including the buying and selling of sperm, egg and surrogacy services. The incident comes as Chinese authorities grapple with how to increase the country's birth rate as more young couples put off having children or opt to have none. China's population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023 and Beijing in October rallied local governments to direct resources towards fixing China's population crisis to create a "birth-friendly" society.
我国禁止代孕，相关部门已誓言严厉打击包括买卖精子、卵子及代孕服务等在内的非法行为。此事件发生时，正值我国努力应对如何提高国家出生率的问题，因为越来越多的年轻夫妇推迟生育或选择不生育。2023年，我国人口连续第二年下降，于10月号召地方政府将资源投入到解决人口危机中，以创建一个“生育友好型”社会。
Zhang Jing, 22, told state-backed Phoenix TV magazine that she donated her eggs out of financial desperation and then agreed to "rent out her uterus" to be impregnated for a total of 30,000 yuan ($4,152). If she "successfully" delivered the baby, she would be paid a total of 240,000 yuan. At five months pregnant, she experienced severe complications and had to have an abortion. Zhang's story amassed more than 86 million views and 10,000 comments on Chinese social media platform Weibo, with the hashtag "#2000s-born Surrogate Miscarriage Girl Speaks Out#."
22岁的张婧在接受凤凰卫视杂志采访时表示，她因经济绝望而出售了自己的卵子，随后同意“出租子宫”进行代孕，共获得3万元人民币（4152美元）。如果她“成功”生下孩子，将总共获得24万元人民币。然而，在怀孕五个月时，她出现了严重并发症，不得不进行流产。张婧的故事在中国社交媒体平台微博上获得了超过8600万次浏览和1万条评论，相关话题标签为“#00后代孕流产女孩发声#”。
The majority of comments strongly opposed surrogacy. Some warned that legalising surrogacy in China could lead to increased competition that would lower compensation and further devalue women.
大多数评论强烈反对代孕。一些人警告称，如果我国合法化代孕，可能会导致竞争加剧，从而降低补偿金，进一步贬低女性价值。
"No woman could escape this if surrogacy were legalised," one user wrote, while another said, "Legalising surrogacy would drive down prices and commodify women."
“如果代孕合法化，没有哪个女人能逃脱这种命运，”一位网友写道。另一位网友则表示：“合法化代孕会降低价格，将女性商品化。”
Zhang's story ignited calls for a more thorough crackdown on illegal surrogacy by authorities, with some commenters warning that allowing the black market to continue to operate could even normalise human organ trafficking.
张婧的故事激起了人们呼吁相关部门对非法代孕进行更彻底的打击，一些评论者警告说，如果任由黑市继续运作，甚至可能会使人体器官贩卖变得正常化。
"Life should not be traded as a commodity," one user wrote. "If this extends to the sale of organs, it will only get darker and darker, and women will have no future."
“生命不应被当作商品进行交易，”一位网友写道。“如果这扩展到器官贩卖，只会越来越黑暗，女性将没有未来。”
The incident comes a few weeks after a 28-year-old pregnant woman who acted as a surrogate in China's southwestern city of Chengdu was allegedly abandoned by her surrogacy agency.
就在几周前，一名28岁的孕妇在我国西南部城市成都担任代孕母亲，据称被其代孕机构遗弃。
