Wealthy Chinese Elites Use US Surrogacy System To Have Dozens Of Children
Authored by Michael Zhuang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Chinese billionaires and elites are increasingly using the United States’ permissive surrogacy system to have large numbers of children—sometimes dozens, or more—according to allegations made in Chinese media.
The surrogate children become U.S. citizens through birthright citizenship.
According to Chinese media, Chinese gaming company Duoyi Network released a statement on social media disputing a report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) saying that Xu Bo, Duoyi’s founder and chairman, fathered potentially more than 100 children in the United States via surrogacy. The statement said that Xu “only had 12 children in the United States via surrogacy.”
Xu’s company later issued a statement on social media acknowledging that Xu had more than 100 children born via surrogacy in the United States.
WSJ cited court documents saying that in 2023, Xu petitioned a Los Angeles family court for parental rights over four unborn children. During the proceedings, the judge determined that Xu was already the father—or in the process of becoming the father—of at least eight children through surrogacy.
Xu, who was in China at the time, appeared at a closed-door hearing by video. Through an interpreter, he reportedly told the court he hoped to have more than 20 U.S.-born children and expressed a preference for sons, saying boys were better suited to inherit a family business, according to WSJ’s account of the hearing.
Xu said the children were being raised by nannies in the United States while awaiting travel documentation to China. He told the court he had not yet met the children due to his work commitments.
Amy Pellman, the judge overseeing the case, reportedly ruled that surrogacy is intended to help people build families—not to facilitate large-scale reproduction beyond the scope of ordinary child-rearing. In a rare move, she denied Xu’s parental rights petition.
The Epoch Times cannot independently verify the details of the court case because such family court proceedings take place behind closed doors and are not published.
Xu was a former senior executive at China’s online gaming giant NetEase. His personal fortune has been estimated by Chinese media at roughly 28 billion yuan (about US$3.9 billion).
Claims About Scale of Surrogacy
The case has drawn renewed attention in China following social media posts by Tang Jing, described in Chinese media as Xu’s former girlfriend. In a post published on Weibo in November, Tang alleged she had helped raise 13 of Xu’s children in Japan, including two daughters she said were born naturally to the couple and 11 children born through surrogacy using donated sperm.
Tang alleged that Xu had “no fewer than 300 children.”
Although Xu’s company rejected the figure of 300 children in a statement posted online, Xu has publicly referred to himself as “China’s No. 1 Dad.”
Verified social media accounts linked to Xu show repeated statements about his desire to build what he called a large “family dynasty.” In posts dating back several years, Xu wrote that “having more children can solve all problems” and said he hoped to have “50 high-quality sons.”
Others Linked to US Surrogacy
Xu’s case is not isolated. According to Chinese state-controlled media reports, other wealthy Chinese individuals have also reportedly used surrogacy services in the United States to produce large families.
According to state-controlled The Time Weekly, one former executive of XJ International Holdings paid large sums to obtain eggs from American models and musicians and used surrogacy to have 10 daughters. The supposed goal was to groom the children for future marriages into powerful or influential families around the world. Online discussion of the case briefly surfaced in China in 2021 before being quickly censored. Chinese media said that the executive’s father declined to comment on the matter, while the company’s staff disputed the claim and said it was a mere “rumor.”
Some senior Chinese officials have also been linked to overseas surrogacy. In 2023, the Financial Times, citing six anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported that former Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang had an extramarital relationship with a Chinese state-owned Phoenix Television host and that they had a son born in the United States via surrogacy. Qin was later removed from office amid unrelated political turmoil.
The U.S. surrogacy industry has developed into a full-service ecosystem involving agencies, law firms, fertility clinics, and childcare providers. Some foreign clients are able to complete the process by only providing genetic material and never entering the United States.
A single surrogacy arrangement could cost anywhere from $100,000 to $250,000, according to American Surrogacy.
Most states do not prohibit foreign nationals from using surrogacy services, and many court proceedings related to parental rights are sealed. There is also no comprehensive mechanism for sharing surrogacy-related data across states, creating regulatory blind spots.
Lin Yan contributed to this report.
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