Now, a black market for sperm in China

Beijing - There is a thriving black market in China -- for sperm. With the country's only 11 sperm banks unable to meet the needs of childless couples, many donors are pitching in with sperm for sale.

Yu Hua and her husband, a couple from Shanxi province who want to have a child, have zeroed in on Huang who is a professional black market sperm donor.

Huang confidently says that a couple "could choose to have me either inject my sperm into the wife's body artificially or through direct sexual intercourse".

Global Times said that Yu Hua and her husband have signed an agreement to let Huang donate his sperm, joining a growing number of Chinese couples who resort to the internet-based black market.

There are only 11 sperm banks in China, and they face a shortage of sperm donors, said Jiang Xiang-long, director of the Jiangxi Province Human Sperm Bank.

Yu Hua was on the Shanxi Human Sperm Bank's waiting list for one year without success.

"The reproductive medical centre told us that we have to wait for another 15 months, after I have done all the medical checkups. I'm already 32 and could not wait any longer," Yu Hua told the state-run daily.

Huang has assured the couple that he could guarantee conception.

"They could choose to have me either inject my sperm into the wife's body artificially or through direct sexual intercourse," Huang told the Global Times.

"I have been working on helping infertile couples and have accumulated some experience. Many clients come to me because they could not get sperm from the sperm bank," he said.

"I will keep my sperm in a small vacuum cup after masturbation, and then inject it into the wife's body through a plastic injector."

Huang injects it himself and no doctors are involved in the process.

Li Shaohua, 28, the organizer of an internet group of voluntary sperm donors, said donors suggest that intercourse is easier and more successful than artificial injection. Couples often insist on trying injection anyway, but in the end, they usually resort to sex, the media report said.

The health ministry said that a sperm bank is the only place to get sperm legally.

"This kind of deal to sell or offer sperm is not protected by Chinese law or accepted by social morality," an official said.