The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) forced organ harvesting practices, once primarily targeting Falun Gong practitioners, have escalated into a broader societal issue with alarming international implications.
‘Donor Search’ at Chinese Hospitals
A chilling revelation has emerged from the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, where internal documents and audio recordings, made public by the father of the late medical intern Luo Shuaiyu on June 17, expose a systematic practice of illicit organ sourcing within Chinese hospitals.Luo, a graduate student specializing in kidney transplantation, fell to his death from a building in May 2024, just weeks before his graduation.
After his death, his family discovered a trove of evidence on his computer implicating the Second Xiangya Hospital in illegal organ trafficking. His father, posting on Weibo, said that Luo refused to comply with hospital directives to source organs of untraceable origin, a stance that may have led to his death.
The Luo case, according to Huang, is indicative of a broader, troubling trend in Chinese medical institutions.
“Every hospital is searching for organs,” Huang said, “They asked [Luo] to find child donors. Where was he supposed to look? Among the children being treated at the hospital, he was tasked with identifying suitable donors.”
Huang said Luo’s refusal to participate in this ethically fraught practice led to intense pressure, culminating in his tragic death.
Luo’s parents released three audio recordings that reveal the hospital’s efforts to source child donors for transplantation and research. One recording details a directive for Luo to locate 12 child donors aged 3 to 9. According to his parents, Luo was pressured to fulfill this task in the months leading up to his graduation, with his academic grades and degree at risk if he failed to comply.
Infant Kidneys Targeted
On May 21, 2024, Fudan University Medical College in Shanghai established a pediatric organ transplant center. While the hospital emphasized that the center was created to save sick children, Chinese parents increasingly fear that their loved ones are becoming targets for organ harvesting.According to the university, Li Qian, CCP secretary at the pediatric hospital, claimed that “in just over a year, [pediatric organ transplants] have exceeded 100 cases.” State media outlet Sina reported that the hospital has performed highly complex surgeries, including kidney transplants from donors weighing less than 5 kg (11 pounds), indicating that newborns are among the donors.
Huang noted the high survival rates of 29-week preterm infants with modern medical technology.
China’s Organ Harvesting Industry
2000–2006: Explosive Growth in Organ Transplants Following CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong
China’s organ transplant industry, which began using organs from executed prisoners—including political prisoners and prisoners of conscience—following a 1984 regulation allowing organ procurement from executed prisoners, saw explosive growth after the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999.Huang noted that after former CCP leader Jiang Zemin initiated the persecution campaign against Falun Gong, practitioners were branded as “class enemies,” making them prime targets for forced organ harvesting.
This period marked an unprecedented surge in organ transplants. According to data from the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, compiled from Chinese state media reports, only 135 liver transplants were recorded in China over more than two decades before 1999, averaging five to six cases annually. In stark contrast, from 1999 to 2006, liver transplants skyrocketed to 14,085 cases over eight years, averaging more than 1,700 cases per year—a staggering 180-fold increase.
2007: A Fault Line in Organ Shortage
In March 2006, a whistleblower using the pseudonym Annie, a former employee of Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, revealed to The Epoch Times the CCP’s horrific practice of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. This exposure had a significant impact on China’s organ transplant industry.Huang attributed this decline to the 2006 revelations.
“The reason for the decrease in organ transplants in China in 2007 was the exposure of the CCP’s forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners,” Huang said.
“As relatives relentlessly searched for family members detained for practicing Falun Gong, it became increasingly difficult for the CCP’s public security and medical personnel to continue using Falun Gong practitioners’ organs on such a large scale.”
Expansion to More Victims
Facing international scrutiny and domestic pressure over its forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, China’s organ harvesting industry began targeting other vulnerable groups, including Uyghurs, and other ethnic groups, as well as young people, children, and infants.Huang said: “In most countries, organ donors tend to be older, 50, 60, or even 70 years old. But in China, the organ transplant industry operates differently. When organs are supplied to wealthy individuals, they naturally demand those from younger people. The focus has shifted to young individuals and, increasingly, to children.”
In August 2023, 8-year-old Wang Sijun, who had a rare Rh-negative blood type, died unexpectedly while receiving treatment at Yunnan Red Cross Hospital.
According to viral videos posted by her family on platforms such as Douyin, Wang was admitted for a routine examination while accompanying a relative, only to die in the nephrology ward. Her autopsy cited hemorrhagic shock as the cause of death, with traces of the anticoagulant enoxaparin sodium detected, leading her family to suspect blood extraction and organ theft.
Although no definitive evidence confirms organ harvesting in the case, Huang noted that widespread allegations of hospitals engaging in such practices have created a climate of heightened anxiety.
Documented cases, such as a fraudulent organ donation scandal in Anhui Province’s Bengbu City, lend credence to these concerns. Between 2017 and 2018, six defendants, including four doctors, were convicted of deceiving families and illegally harvesting organs from at least 11 patients.
Huang said: “China’s organ transplant industry, driven by the Communist Party’s ideology, has evolved into a vast commercial enterprise. These cases show it has become an unregulated beast, with rampant, unchecked organ harvesting.”