For wealthy mainland families, going overseas to give birth is just one of the many ways of evading Beijing's one-child policy. Using surrogate mothers is another - at least for the time being.
Mainland authorities are now determined to close that loophole, by shutting down a thriving surrogacy industry, particularly after reports late last year brought to light the case of a wealthy Guangzhou couple who had eight babies with the help of two surrogate mothers.
Upset by the tycoon's violation of the one-child policy, Guangdong family-planning and health officials have vowed to arrest the agent who facilitated the surrogate pregnancies. However, they also admitted that a crackdown lacked the support of a legislative framework. The mainland does have a technology code on 'human-assisted reproduction' that was issued by the Ministry of Health in 2001 and bans hospitals from trading in embryos or assisting in surrogate pregnancies. Medical institutions breaching these rules face fines of up to 30,000 yuan (HK$36,600). But the mainland does not have other regulations governing surrogacy.
The use of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) technology to implant embryos in surrogate mothers is a controversial topic around the world. It is allowed in India and some parts of the US, but it remains controversial throughout the world, particularly for enabling surrogate motherhood.
In Hong Kong, commercial surrogacy is a criminal offence but no prosecutions have been made under the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance since it was passed in 2000. Late last year, police declined to press charges after a 10-month investigation into an alleged surrogacy deal involving Henderson Land Development vice-chairman Peter Lee Ka-kit, who had three sons born to him by a woman in the United States.
Zhang Haihua, who runs a surrogacy agency from the 61daiyun.com website, said his business had been badly affected by the Guangzhou case, after health authorities stepped up inspections.