By Cai Siyun
As China’s economic downturn continues and unemployment increases, some people in Beijing are reportedly turning to selling blood to survive. An informed source recently told Vision Times that the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital 301 has become one of the locations linked to illegal blood transactions.
Majuyqiao labor market in Tongzhou
Majuyqiao, an odd-job market in Beijing’s Tongzhou district, is among the largest informal labor markets in the capital. From early morning until night, job seekers gather there in large numbers.
Mainland self-media commentator Li Banjiang recently published an article describing his visit to the market. In addition to workers seeking employment and recruiters hiring day laborers, he wrote that another group can be heard calling out that they want to “sell blood.” According to Li, these are people unable to find work and driven to desperation.
Li quoted an elderly man from Hebei province who said many at the market are workers dismissed by factories because they have reached an age at which employers no longer retain them. They can only seek temporary jobs. If they fail to secure work, he said, they may resort to selling personal information or selling blood to earn enough to cover basic living expenses.
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Paid blood donation ban and role of ‘blood heads’
China banned paid blood donation nearly 30 years ago. Since then, blood-selling activities have reportedly continued under the name of “blood donation.” Individuals who arrange such transactions and profit from them are commonly referred to as “blood heads.”
According to the report, these intermediaries are said to connect sellers with hospitals across Beijing, including Hospital 301, and help arrange appointments.
Public information shows that Hospital 301 serves as a major medical base for senior Chinese Communist Party officials. It also treats difficult and complex diseases for all theater commands and branches of the armed forces, while admitting civilian patients.
A man identified as Yang Dong, described as one of the “blood heads,” said individuals who “donate blood” must first register and undergo testing.
“It’s just following the normal hospital blood donation procedures,” Yang said. “When money is given, it is said to be nutritional compensation. What it actually is, everyone understands.”
He said that regular blood donors are often students or employees of state-owned enterprises, as such employers generally grant time off for blood donation. By contrast, he said, most current “donors” are unemployed individuals, including many migrant workers.
Compensation practices and recruitment incentives
Yang said that if blood is “donated” before Thursday, payment can range from 750 yuan (approximately US$105) to 850 yuan (approximately US$120). Some people in urgent need of money are told they will receive 1,000 yuan (approximately US$140), but after donating may receive only 500 yuan (approximately US$70) or nothing at all. Such incidents, he said, occur frequently.
Platelets can be “donated” once every 15 days, at about 400 yuan (approximately US$55) per session.
Yang also described informal practices within the trade. After receiving payment, a seller can introduce additional people and receive 50 to 100 yuan (approximately US$7 to US$14) per person. After donating, sellers may have to wait about 10 minutes before funds are transferred.
A mainland blogger said, “Some people say we’ve gone crazy from poverty and have fallen to the point of selling blood. Before, I didn’t admit it. Now I have to admit it, because I have no money left for living expenses.”
A man surnamed Ping from Guangdong province said he had sold blood several times.
“I had no choice, so recently I sold,” he said. “At that time I didn’t even have money for living expenses. I sold four or five times. When I got to the hospital, I asked people privately, and also at the blood station. You can’t say it’s selling blood. You ask them, is there any subsidy for donating blood? That’s how you ask.”
Public health risks and historical precedent
Observers have raised concerns that underground blood-selling may pose significant public health risks. The health conditions of those selling blood may not be adequately safeguarded, and unregulated transactions could increase the spread of blood-borne infectious diseases.
Sheng Xue, global vice chair of the Federation for a Democratic China, said the issue extends beyond medicine.
“It is definitely not a simple medical issue,” she said. “First of all, of course, it is a public health risk issue. It is even more a question of China’s institutional structure and the people’s right to survival. As long as underground blood exchanges exist or the Chinese Communist Party’s supervision fails, the risk of spreading blood-borne infectious diseases is certainly very high.”
She added that many ordinary Chinese people face severe survival pressures.
“When a person can no longer survive, there is nothing else to sell,” Sheng said. “They have no property, no external wealth, so they can only sell their own bodies.”
The situation has drawn comparisons to the 1990s “plasma economy” in Henan province, which led to widespread HIV infections. According to reports, more than one million people were infected with HIV and tens of thousands died. Authorities have long been accused of covering up the scale of the crisis and suppressing doctors and journalists who attempted to investigate the “blood disaster.”
After the Henan incident, the Chinese Communist Party’s Blood Donation Law took effect on Oct. 1, 1998, establishing a voluntary blood donation system. The government also encouraged patients scheduled for elective surgery to store their own blood in advance and mobilized families, work units and society to engage in mutual assistance blood donation.
Official position and allegations of elite links
Chinese Communist Party officials maintain that selling blood is illegal. According to the report, when such cases are exposed, responsibility is often shifted to intermediaries or to the hospitals involved, and officials are rarely held accountable.
Commentators cited in the report said that if a medical facility serving senior Chinese Communist Party leaders, such as Hospital 301, were linked to “blood heads,” it would suggest that the illegal trade may be deeply intertwined with elite networks.
