Inside China’s ultra-rich surrogacy push in the US

December 16, 2025

Over the past decade, a growing number of wealthy Chinese individuals, including billionaires, have turned to surrogacy in the United States to build unusually large families, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. In some cases, the pursuit has gone far beyond conventional parenthood, revealing ambitions that resemble the creation of personal dynasties rather than families.

The trend came to light during a confidential hearing in a Los Angeles County family court in 2023, when officials noticed a striking anomaly: the same intended parent appeared repeatedly across multiple surrogacy filings. Further scrutiny revealed that the man, a wealthy Chinese businessman, was linked to an expanding network of unborn and already-born children, each conceived through different American surrogates. The case offered a rare glimpse into the largely opaque and loosely regulated global fertility industry.
The hearing was overseen by US Judge Amy Pellman, who examined petitions seeking to formalise parental rights.

According to people present, the intended parent was Xu Bo, a China-based video game executive. Xu did not attend the proceedings in person and instead appeared remotely through an interpreter. Court records indicated he was seeking parental rights for at least four unborn children, while officials determined he had already fathered, or was in the process of fathering, at least eight more children through US surrogacy arrangements.

During the hearing, Xu reportedly told the court that his long-term goal was to have around 20 children born in the United States, primarily boys, whom he envisioned eventually taking leadership roles in his business empire. Several of these children were reportedly being cared for by nannies in Irvine, California, while awaiting paperwork to travel to China. Xu acknowledged that he had not met them, citing work commitments.

Judge Pellman expressed serious concern, stating that surrogacy was designed to help individuals build families, not to facilitate what appeared to be large-scale reproduction. In a decision described by legal experts as highly unusual, the judge denied Xu’s petition for parentage, leaving the children in a state of legal uncertainty despite the surrogacy contracts following standard procedures.
Xu Bo is known to maintain a strong online presence while remaining largely absent from public life. He has not been photographed publicly for nearly a decade and rarely gives interviews. In an email response, a representative of his company, Duoyi Network, said Xu does not accept interview requests and claimed that “much of what you described is untrue.”
Xu’s case is not isolated. Within China’s elite circles, overseas surrogacy has increasingly become a means to pursue family sizes that would be impossible under Chinese law. Xu has publicly embraced the identity of “China’s first father,” with his company at one point claiming on social media that he had more than 100 children born through surrogacy in the US. He is also known as a vocal critic of feminism.
Other wealthy figures have followed similar paths. Wang Huiwu, president and CEO of Sichuan-based XJ International Holdings, is reportedly the father of 10 daughters born through US surrogacy. People familiar with the matter said Wang recruited egg donors from diverse professional backgrounds, including fashion models, a finance PhD holder and a musician. Each egg donation reportedly cost between $6,000 and $7,500. Wang was said to prefer daughters and hoped they would eventually marry influential global figures.
In 2021, screenshots allegedly showing messages from someone claiming to share a nanny with Wang circulated widely on Chinese social media, triggering public outrage. Domestic media criticised Wang, arguing that commercial surrogacy exploits women and undermines public morality. Around the same time, his company’s shares fell sharply. XJ International Holdings dismissed the claims as rumours and later declined to comment.
The phenomenon has been enabled by a sophisticated transnational fertility industry. In US states such as California, surrogacy laws allow international clients to work with American surrogates.