Are American Surrogates Powering a Hidden Baby Boom for China’s Rich?

Wealthy Chinese citizens have been turning to American surrogates to build very large families, sometimes involving dozens of children. A confidential Los Angeles case featuring Chinese videogame executive Xu Bo gave US officials a rare, detailed look at how overseas surrogacy is helping create what some clients describe as dynasties.

During a 2023 hearing before Los Angeles County family court, officials discovered that one Chinese business figure appeared again and again in parentage files. The same intended parent was linked to multiple pregnancies and births, each involving a different surrogate in the United States, raising questions over scale and oversight.

Overseas surrogacy and the Los Angeles case involving Xu Bo

The hearing, overseen by US Judge Amy Pellman in mid‑2023, focused on Xu Bo, a videogame executive based in China. Xu joined remotely through an interpreter. Court documents and inquiries indicated Xu sought legal parent status for at least four unborn children carried by American surrogates at that time.

Officials further established that Xu had already fathered, or was arranging to father, at least eight other children through US surrogates. Several of these children, according to people familiar with the case, were living with nannies in Irvine, California, while paperwork for travel to China was pending.

Those present told the Wall Street Journal that Xu outlined an ambitious long‑term plan. Xu reportedly told Pellman the goal was to have around 20 children born in the US, mainly boys, who Xu believed would eventually run Xu’s various business interests and leadership roles.

People attending the confidential session said Pellman reacted with concern. The judge stressed that surrogacy exists to help people form families, not to support what resembled large‑scale reproduction. In a rare move, Pellman rejected Xu’s petition for parentage, leaving the children’s legal status unclear despite standard procedures being followed.

Sources said Xu admitted not having met some children in the US, explaining that work commitments in China made travel difficult. Caregivers in California looked after the babies while passports, visas and other documents were arranged, underscoring how overseas surrogacy can separate biological parents from newborns for extended periods.

Chinese elites, overseas surrogacy and mega‑family ambitions

Xu’s approach reflects a wider pattern among China’s rich, who use overseas surrogacy to pursue family sizes that Chinese rules and logistics would complicate. Within elite circles, having many foreign‑born children is seen by some as a strategy to anchor future heirs abroad and diversify family assets and influence.

Xu cultivates a strong online presence but stays out of public life. Xu has not been photographed openly for nearly ten years and rarely gives interviews. A Duoyi Network representative replied to emailed questions saying, "The boss does not accept interview requests from anyone for any purpose," and added that "much of what you described is untrue."

Despite this, Xu has publicly embraced a prolific father image. Xu calls himself "China's first father," while Duoyi Network has claimed on social media that Xu has more than 100 children born via surrogates in the US. Xu is also widely known in China as an outspoken critic of feminism, drawing further controversy.

Other wealthy Chinese figures have walked similar paths through overseas surrogacy. People connected to Sichuan‑based XJ International Holdings said company president and CEO Wang Huiwu has fathered 10 daughters through US surrogacy arrangements. Wang reportedly focuses on girls, hoping they will later partner with influential global personalities.

According to those close to Wang, egg donors included fashion models, a finance PhD holder and a musician, with each donation costing between $6,000 and $7,500. Screenshots allegedly from someone claiming to share a nanny with Wang spread widely on Chinese social media in 2021, sparking a storm of criticism and moral debate.

Chinese media outlets condemned Wang’s reported use of commercial overseas surrogacy, arguing it exploits women and erodes social ethics. Around the same period, XJ International Holdings’ share price declined sharply. The company, which had previously dismissed these claims as baseless rumours, did not issue further responses to later comment requests.

Global fertility industry powering overseas surrogacy for Chinese clients

The ambitions of Chinese elites rely on an international fertility sector that links egg donors, clinics, agencies and caregivers. US states such as California permit foreign intended parents to arrange surrogacy, and hearings are usually confidential. Many cases leave almost no trace on public court records, limiting outside scrutiny.

This structure lets some clients engage several agencies and legal teams at the same time. Industry insiders say safeguards are so minimal that no single body can reliably track how many pregnancies a single intended parent is commissioning across different states, clinics or even countries linked by overseas surrogacy networks.

California agency owner Joy Millan told the Wall Street Journal that a single father in China once requested four surrogates at once. Millan agreed to help secure one surrogate, then later learned the same client had already arranged additional carriers with other agencies simultaneously, using the gaps in coordination.

Money flowing through overseas surrogacy is substantial. Agencies generally receive $40,000 to $50,000 per case, separate from payments to the surrogate. Once IVF procedures, legal work, insurance, childcare and travel logistics are added, each child can cost close to $200,000, making large projects hugely expensive but still attractive to ultra‑rich clients.

Some Chinese parents complete every step without entering the US. Experts report cases where intended parents send genetic material abroad, manage IVF and pregnancies through agents, and then arrange for newborns to be collected directly from hospitals. Professional nannies or caregivers then care for the children while documents and onward travel are organised.

China’s one‑child era and overseas surrogacy demand

For years, overseas surrogacy provided a workaround to China’s population controls. Before the one‑child policy ended in 2015, children born as US citizens were outside China’s penalty framework. Nathan Zhang, founder and CEO of IVF USA, said earlier Chinese clients mainly wanted to escape domestic birth limits and related fines.

Zhang explained that client motives later shifted as restrictions eased. A distinct group of ultra‑rich parents emerged, no longer simply seeking two or three children. Instead, some wanted very large lineages. "Elon Musk is becoming a role model now," Zhang told the Wall Street Journal, describing how some clients talk about vast, multi‑generation clans.

Zhang recalled meeting a prospective client from the education sector who proposed commissioning more than 200 children at once via overseas surrogacy. "I asked him directly, 'How do you plan to raise all these children?' He was speechless," Zhang said. Zhang declined the project, concerned about responsibility and care standards.

Other professionals described similar requests. One California agency owner said a Chinese client successfully arranged 100 children over several years, using multiple agencies to spread the work. A Los Angeles lawyer specialising in surrogacy said a Chinese billionaire had 20 children through US surrogates in recent years, highlighting the scale involved.

Surrogacy attorney Amanda Troxler, based in Los Angeles, recounted that her firm once met a Chinese client seeking eight to ten surrogacies at once and asking for a bulk price. "I was like, 'No, we're not Costco,'" Troxler told the Wall Street Journal. Troxler refused the case, citing firm policy limiting two concurrent surrogacies per parent.

Public backlash in China over overseas surrogacy scandals

While overseas surrogacy continues in practice, Chinese public opinion often turns sharply against high‑profile cases. In 2019, actor Zheng Shuang and then‑partner Zhang Heng hired two US surrogates. Their relationship collapsed before the births, leading to an international custody battle heard in Colorado and drawing intense media coverage.

Court files stated that Zheng reconsidered the pregnancies and allegedly explored asking one surrogate to terminate, although the fetus was already too advanced. Zhang travelled to Colorado and Nevada to be present at the births and stayed in the US to care for the two children while legal and personal disputes intensified.

After Zhang revealed details on Weibo, the Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission posted a sharp condemnation. The statement read, "For Chinese citizens to exploit legal loopholes and flee to the United States simply because surrogacy is prohibited in China is by no means abiding by the law," signalling official disapproval.

The fallout for both was severe. Zheng lost brand partnerships, and authorities investigated Zheng and Zhang for tax issues. Zheng was ordered to pay nearly $46 million in fines, while Zhang received a $5 million penalty. Zhang ultimately secured sole parenting responsibility and later co‑founded a California surrogacy agency targeting Chinese customers.

Surrogacy has also surfaced in political controversies. In 2023, foreign minister Qin Gang disappeared from public roles following an internal Communist Party inquiry into an alleged relationship with journalist Fu Xiaotian. Fu had a child via US surrogacy in late 2022, prompting questions over whether senior officials were joining the overseas surrogacy trend.

The government never confirmed who fathered Fu’s child. Nonetheless, the episode reportedly triggered internal checks on whether officials had used foreign surrogates. Both Qin and Fu vanished from public view after the story spread, highlighting how deeply sensitive overseas surrogacy remains inside China’s political system.

Despite these flashpoints, Beijing has not formally banned overseas surrogacy for Chinese nationals. Criticism has grown more overt, however. Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said health authorities in China believe surrogacy can cause a "serious family and social ethical crisis." That phrase reflects rising official concern about commercial arrangements abroad.

US citizenship debates and overseas surrogacy regulation

Children born in the US automatically gain citizenship under the 14th Amendment, a rule long debated in American politics. In 2020, the US State Department tightened visa rules to curb birth tourism, aiming at travellers suspected of visiting mainly to give birth on US soil and secure passports for their children.

In January, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to deny citizenship to children born in the US unless at least one parent is a citizen or permanent resident. The Supreme Court is currently reviewing this order. It is not yet clear whether such curbs would affect babies born through American surrogates for foreign parents.

Lawmakers have also targeted overseas surrogacy directly. Last month, Senator Rick Scott from Florida introduced a bill to stop US surrogacy services for intended parents from specific countries, including China. Scott referred to an ongoing federal human trafficking probe involving a Chinese‑American couple in Los Angeles reportedly linked to more than two dozen children.

Most of those children were allegedly born through surrogates within four years. Investigators from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have interviewed several surrogates who worked with Chinese parents, according to those women. Authorities have not disclosed the broader aims of these interviews or whether further action will follow.

International data on overseas surrogacy trends

Academic work has tracked how overseas surrogacy has grown within the United States. Emory University researchers found that surrogacy cycles involving international parents quadrupled between 2014 and 2019. During that time, US IVF clinics started 3,240 surrogacy cycles for foreign intended parents, representing almost 40 per cent of all American surrogacy cycles.

China became the largest source of international clients. Between 2014 and 2020, 41 per cent of foreign intended parents in US surrogacy cases were from China. Although pandemic travel restrictions briefly slowed new cross‑border arrangements, industry participants say demand from Chinese clients seeking overseas surrogacy has now bounced back strongly.

The cases of Xu Bo, Wang Huiwu, Zheng Shuang and others show how overseas surrogacy links Chinese elites, American law and global fertility businesses. As demand grows, regulators in both countries are struggling to respond, leaving many children, surrogates and intended parents navigating complex legal, ethical and social questions that remain unsettled.