ipad2A Chinese teenager was so desperate to acquire the new iPad 2 that he sold one of his kidneys for just £2,000 to pay for it, according to reports.

The 17-year-old boy, identified only by his surname, “Zheng”, confessed to his mother that he had sold the kidney after spotting an online advertisement offering cash to anyone prepared to become an organ donor.

“I wanted to buy an iPad 2, but I didn’t have the money,” the boy told Shenzhen TV in the southern province of Guangdong, “When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by agent saying they were able to pay RMB20,000 to buy a kidney.” After negotiations, the boy travelled north to the city of Chenzhou in Hunan Province where the kidney was removed at a local hospital which discharged him after three days, paying a total of RMB22,000 for the organ.

Trading organs online is a common practice in China, despite repeated attempts by China’s government to stamp out the practice. Last year Japanese television reported that a group of “transplant tourists” had paid £50,000 to receive new kidneys in China.

According to official statistics more than a million people in China need a transplant every year, but fewer than 10,000 receive organs, driving an almost unstoppable black-market organ trade that enriches brokers, doctors and corrupt government officials.

The boy, who has suffered complications following the surgery, returned home but was unable to keep what he had done from his mother.

“When he came back, he had a laptop and a new Apple handset,” his mother, identified as Miss Liu, told the station, showing off the livid red scar where her son’s kidney was removed, “I wanted to know how he had got so much money and he finally confessed that he had sold one of his kidneys.”

The mother took the son back to Chenzhou to report the crime to the police, however, the mobiles of the three agents that Zheng had contacted were all switched off.

The hospital, which admitted contracting out its urology department to a private businessman, denied any knowledge of the surgery.

The case, which caused an online furore, was cited by some as an extreme example of the rampant materialism of modern China.

Thousands of comments were posted on internet discussion groups, with many lamenting the lack of rule of law in China and the “immorality” of the new, ‘capitalist’ China.

“This is a failure of education, the first purpose of which is to ‘propagate morality’,” said one comment on Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV website, “This teenager’s stupid behaviour is a manifestation of his radically materialistic values.” “To sell a kidney in order to buy consumer goods? What vanity!” added another, “It is undeniable that modern Chinese teenagers’ morality is declining. This is something we must all think about.”

Apple products like the iPhone and the iPad are in huge demand in China, and are seen as a badge of wealth and sophistication by young consumers.

Last month scuffles broke out among desperate shoppers outside several Beijing Apple Stores as they queued to buy the newly launched iPad2 and white iPhone4.
Source: The Telegraph

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16 Comments

  1. Awesome. If we just had as few regulations as pro business China, we might be as successful.

    Need an operation but can’t afford it? Just sell another part of your body. Hell you could sell a heart to prevent the bank foreclosing on your house.

    The government needs to remove the shackles of us enterpreneurship and creativity.

    focus503
  2. Do you have any idea the value of an organ and beyond that a perfect match that your body will not reject after a few years. Its not worth the money or any apple product… There is only one that ever will exist and I have to say my compliments go out for whomever used there divine intelligence to determine selling your heart was a good idea… You stupid ass fool! I dare you to try and sell your heart and see what happens!

    pat156
  3. i believe the boy did that because of the financial state of his parent, but one should always be satisfied with what his parent have for him,,,,,,,,…….dis goes to the boy:u’re so madto have sold your kidney for just any apple product, u can actually break down any moment but the product will still continue to exist…….so i’ll say it’s a stupid idea selling any of your organ for a device.

    ola
  4. I would sell my kidney too, for the right reasons, to save the life of my children/husband, yeah sure. To put a roof over our heads or food on our table, yeah sure again. But to buy an electronic gadget, HELL NO!! And I don’t think this is what Steve Jobs had in mind when he developed these gadgets.

    Materialism isn’t running rampant in China alone. Here in the US it’s very prevalent. ESPECIALLY this time of year with Christmas being so close. As a global society material greed is everywhere and as history has proven time and again it will be the destruction of not just a nation but of our species.

  5. Well for d great minds who comment that it is not a big deal and why we all making a fuss about this… hell you live in lala land probably… its high time we do come to our senses…. agreed the kid might not have had the financial funding to buy the gadget but that is no reason why he should go around selling his kidney… and along with that he has obviously gone ahead withouth knowing about the cons of his decision or even how the whole thing of “donating” ( pun intended) a kidney works…. complications are bound to happen… and to the other people who have commented labeling this move as “creative” well u surely need help my friend…

    nrathod07
  6. I dont see what the issue is here. The kid obviuosly wasn’t using it! I mean, I just sold my pecker to a tranny for a tickle-me-elmo. A good investment if I do say so myself.

    Smart
  7. lol? how many kidneys has he got to sell for an item that lasts a few years?

    what in the world
  8. i dunnoe why wud he do it!!!i mean organs are a blessing from God!!!!!!!!!!!!HELL NO!!I WUD NEVER EVER DO THAT FOR AN I PAD!!!!

    ali

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