China sperm donors must be communists

A SPERM bank in China is demanding potential donors be good communists, as Beijing’s campaign to increase its control over people’s lives extends to before they are born.

The Peking University Third Hospital is asking donors to answer the party’s call before they hand over semen in a six-week donation drive launched this week.

Demand for sperm is booming in China since the one-child policy was axed in 2016, but there have been concerns over quality levels.

The Beijing hospital listed a series of requirements for potential donors, including having no serious diseases or “obvious signs of hair loss”.

It also said that men between the ages of 20 to 45 who wish to donate must “love the socialist motherland, support the leadership of the Communist Party, be loyal to the party’s cause and be decent, law-abiding, and free of political problems.”

Chinese media said there were 40 million infertile women and men in the country. The Global Times said that the “low pass rate of quality sperm” is the main cause of the shortage, with the Beijing Times saying the pass percentage in China is 15 to 20 per cent.

Those who pass the tests at Peking University will be paid 200 yuan (£22.50) immediately and another 5,500 yuan (£620) when a donation is received.

A doctor indicated to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post that there were no medical procedures for testing communist credentials.

“It would be fine as long as you consider yourself suitable,” the doctor said.