Recently, SCMP reported on a story that caused a stir on Chinese social media about a man who secretly hired a surrogacy company to have a daughter, after his only daughter refused to give birth to a grandchild for him.
This incident not only shocked the wife but also raised many ethical and legal issues surrounding surrogacy in modern society.
According to a report from Henan Television (China), one day, a 53-year-old woman surnamed Guo returned home and found a strange woman holding a newborn baby in her house.
When asked about the child's identity, Guo was informed that it was her and her husband's child, and that the strange woman was just a maid.
The ridiculous explanation made Mrs. Guo want to find out the truth. The truth was quickly revealed that Guo's husband had paid a surrogate to have a grandchild of his own, after their only daughter, 29, announced that she had no intention of marrying or having children.
"My husband said, if we don't have grandchildren, what's the point of raising a daughter? That's a lack of filial piety according to traditional culture," Ms. Guo shared.
Things got even more tense when Guo discovered that her husband had stolen her ID card to make a birth certificate for the child, listing her as the mother. Upon learning this, Guo expressed her outrage and threatened to divorce her husband.
Guo's daughter, surnamed Gao, also cannot accept her father's actions. She worries that her parents will divorce and she will have to shoulder the responsibility of raising the child. "This is ridiculous," Gao said.
The Guo family’s story is not unique. A 62-year-old man in Henan province also hired a surrogacy company without informing his family, just hoping to have a son.
Although surrogacy is illegal in China, many people still find ways around the law to fulfill their dream of having children.
According to SCMP, surrogacy is a controversial issue in Chinese society. The Guo family's case has sparked heated discussion on social media, with many expressing support for a ban on surrogacy, arguing that it degrades women's dignity.
At the same time, the story also reflects the conflicts between tradition and modernity, between personal desires and family responsibilities in today's Chinese society.
