18-Year-Old Man Sells Kidney In China, Video Games Get Blamed

Earlier this month, a criminal gang was arrested by Shijiazhuang police in Hebei province, China. The gang was arrested for dealing in black market organs. One of those organs supposedly belonged to a Chinese gamer.

You might know the story of the Chinese boy from Anhui province who sold one of his kidneys (most of us were born with two) to buy an Apple iPad back in 2011. The aftermath of the kidney sale created a terrible wave of PR for Apple; in fact it’s still being held against them today.

Now, Tencent is reporting that a young Chinese man surnamed Zhang from Gangsu province also sold his kidney. Zhang, recently 18, had come into some money troubles — money troubles because of video games, apparently.

Needing to come up with some quick cash, Zhang reached out to an organ dealer to sell his kidney. Zhang was matched up with a dealer online, the dealer who had Zhang go to Shijiazhuang and sign an pre-sale agreement. The agreement stated that Zhang sold his kidney of his own volition and that all consequences and issues are his to bear. Zhang signed the note and was wheeled into surgery.

Zhang sold his kidney for $US6510. The supposed going price of a kidney in China according to Havocscope is $US47,000.

So why did Zhang need to sell his kidney and why did he only get a measly 13 per cent cut? According to Chinese media, Zhang had incurred up to $US3255 in debts related to video games. How Zhang racked up this debt is unknown, but it seems rather drastic that he had to sell his kidney to pay it off.

For all intents and purposes, Zhang might not have been a gamer but instead a gambler. It seems unfair for China and the Chinese media to blame video games for Zhang’s debt. Just like how Apple was blamed by the Chinese media that sold his kidney in 2011, it seems video games as whole is getting blamed for Zhang selling his.

[18岁少年迷恋游戏欠2万元债 4万卖掉一只肾] Tencent

Picture: Tyler Olson/Shutterstock