By Li Muzi
The Chinese Communist Party’s organ harvesting practices have drawn sustained international attention and condemnation. Recently, Chen Jingyu, vice president of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine and promoted by state media as “China’s leading lung transplant expert,” published an article defending China’s organ donation and transplant system. His remarks triggered a wave of outrage among mainland Chinese netizens, some of whom denounced him as a “Zhejiang University demon.”
Zhejiang University Hospital completed 213 lung transplants in 2025, claimed to rank first worldwide
According to reports from Observer News’ Fengwen Community and NetEase, Chen recently published an article titled “China’s Organ Donation System Must Not Be Slandered!”, stating that it was written “to commemorate the 10th anniversary of China’s green channel for human organ transportation.”
The article said that on Jan. 9, 2026, the Lung Transplant Department of Zhejiang University’s Second Affiliated Hospital held its 2025 annual departmental review meeting. At the meeting, it was stated that “in 2025, our hospital completed a total of 213 lung transplant surgeries, ranking first globally.”
The article also claimed that since Jan. 1, 2015, donations from brain-dead donors have been China’s sole source of transplant organs, with “more than 6,000 selfless donors each year.”
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Chen further wrote that during the review meeting, surgeon Huang Bin shared his most memorable lung procurement experience of 2025, which involved traveling to Yunnan to retrieve lungs from a “brain-dead donor.” After the related video was posted on Douyin, Chen claimed that “certain groups hostile to China’s organ donation system maliciously reposted the content to discredit China’s organ donation efforts.”
Public information shows that Chen Jingyu is described by Chinese media as “China’s leading lung transplant expert,” a recipient of special allowances from the State Council, and a deputy to the National People’s Congress. He currently serves as vice president of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, director of the Jiangsu Lung Transplant Center, and chief physician of thoracic surgery at Wuxi People’s Hospital. He previously served as vice president of Wuxi People’s Hospital.
Chen’s article triggered a strong backlash among mainland netizens. Online comments included: “This beast should start donations with his own family!” “Utterly inhumane!” “Vice president, just answer one question: Does organ transplantation require organs taken from living people? If yes, you deserve the harshest punishment.” Others wrote, “If the process were fully transparent, there would be no so-called slander,” and “Everyone remember him. He will be held accountable one day.”
Zhejiang University doctor claims to have retrieved hundreds of donor lungs in a single year
After a year-end video featuring organ transplant doctors from Zhejiang University’s Second Affiliated Hospital circulated online, public shock intensified. In the video, one doctor openly boasted about his 2025 “organ transplant achievements.”
He described traveling to a city near the China–Myanmar border in Yunnan Province to retrieve donor lungs, saying that by the time allocation was confirmed, it was already late at night. After checking weather conditions, he chose the earliest available flight.
He said that after arriving in Kunming, he took a high-speed train to reach the destination as quickly as possible to minimize cold ischemia time, adding that coordination with airlines was extremely difficult due to the scale of resource mobilization involved. Ultimately, he said, the operation was “successful.”
The doctor stated that this was his first lung procurement of 2025, adding that it was merely “one very ordinary retrieval among the hundreds of donor lungs” he had handled that year.
Users on X reacted angrily, writing, “He doesn’t even realize he’s committing a crime. He talks like a model student completing homework,” and “Calling hundreds of donor lungs ‘ordinary’—that’s hundreds of lives treated with chilling indifference. It’s horrifying and disgraceful.”
‘Brain death’ allegedly used as a pretext for organ harvesting
In recent years, reports of organ donation following brain death have become increasingly common in China. According to mainland media, on Dec. 7, 2022, a young man in Hubei Province who was declared brain-dead after a traffic accident donated six organs, including his heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and corneas. On Nov. 16, 2023, a 13-year-old middle school student in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was declared brain-dead eight days later, donated multiple organs.
Chen Jingyu has stated that organs from brain-dead donors are China’s only source of transplant organs.
New Tang Dynasty Television cited Dr. Jacob Lavee, head of the heart transplant unit at the Sheba Medical Center affiliated with Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine. In a 2022 article published in the American Journal of Transplantation, Lavee reported that in many cases, individuals labeled as “brain-dead” in China were not truly brain-dead but were killed during the organ extraction process.
Lavee noted that a key indicator of fabricated brain death diagnoses was the timing of tracheal intubation. Proper brain death determination requires apnea testing, which necessitates intubation and ventilation prior to death declaration. However, Lavee found multiple Chinese cases in which intubation occurred only after brain death had already been declared.
For example, one Chinese medical report stated, “When the heart was removed, respiration had already ceased. Tracheal intubation was then performed and artificial ventilation established.” Another case described: “After brain death was declared, tracheal intubation was promptly performed, artificial ventilation initiated, the chest rapidly opened, and cold cardioplegic solution injected into the ascending aorta and pulmonary artery.”
Dr. Zain Khalpey, associate professor of surgery and cardiac surgeon at the University of Arizona, told New Tang Dynasty Television that while Chinese authorities claim to have established brain death standards, in practice these standards serve merely as a pretext for organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.
“They can set whatever standards they want,” Khalpey said. “If they decide you are a prisoner of conscience, you will die regardless. The standards don’t matter. This is simply a crime. Brain death just gives them an excuse.”
Hospitals linked to Chen Jingyu allegedly involved in organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners
According to a June 8, 2024 investigative report by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), Chen Jingyu serves as vice president of Wuxi People’s Hospital and vice president of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine.
The report alleged that Wuxi People’s Hospital has long been involved in organ harvesting, including a double-lung transplant performed on China’s first confirmed COVID-19 patient, which was suspected of involving organs taken from living donors.
In February 2020, after completing what state media described as the world’s first double-lung transplant on a COVID-19 patient, Chen told reporters that lung transplantation was a routine procedure, with one operation performed every two to three days, and that more than 1,000 lung transplants had already been completed.
Wuxi People’s Hospital reportedly began performing lung transplants in 2002, three years after the CCP launched its persecution of Falun Gong. By October 2022, the hospital had completed more than 1,500 lung transplant surgeries. In 2023 alone, Chen reportedly performed 370 lung transplants, including 205 in Wuxi and 165 in Hangzhou.
Data cited in the report stated that the hospital hosted six national-level continuing education conferences on cardiopulmonary transplantation and supported more than 30 hospitals across 18 provinces in developing lung transplant programs. China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Zhejiang University’s Second Affiliated Hospital were both cited as leading transplant centers.
Chen Jingyu listed for investigation by WOIPFG
According to an investigative report issued by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) on Aug. 6, 2016, the Chinese Communist Party has carried out genocidal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners since July 1999, including large-scale organ harvesting operations.
Based on evidence gathered by multiple international organizations, the group stated that nearly all doctors involved in organ transplantation in mainland China are suspected of participating in live organ harvesting and may be implicated in crimes of genocide.
The report stated that Chen Jingyu, vice president and chief thoracic surgeon at Wuxi People’s Hospital, participated in 131 lung transplant surgeries and 129 lung procurements between September 2002 and December 2011, and took part in additional heart and lung transplants at Dalian Central Hospital between 2005 and 2006. By December 2008, he had completed 78 single- and double-lung transplants.
WOIPFG said it has formally opened an investigation into Chen Jingyu and vowed to pursue accountability globally, regardless of time or location.
Editor’s Note: This article is based on reports from mainland Chinese media, publicly available online videos, and statements by Chinese netizens, medical professionals, and overseas commentators. Allegations related to organ harvesting, brain death determinations, and specific individuals or institutions have not been independently verified and are presented as claims or opinions attributed to the cited sources.
