Chinese Lawyer Yi Shenghua publicly disclosed a large-scale organized body trafficking case involving multiple institutions, exposing the dark side of the Chinese human skeletal material market, which has shocked the entire nation. As the “body trafficking case” continues to unfold, Chinese orthopedic material concept stocks have collectively surged, sparking controversy.
According to materials disclosed by Lawyer Yi Shenghua on August 8, Shanxi Aorui Bio-material Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Shanxi Aorui Company”) is suspected of illegally purchasing corpses and limbs as raw materials for the production of “homologous bone implantable materials” products, with a total operating income from 2015 to 2023 reaching 380 million yuan. This case involves illegal theft and trafficking of over 4,000 bodies.
The materials show that there are a total of 75 criminal suspects in this case, involving units such as Shanxi Aorui Company, Sichuan Hengpu Company, Shandong Qingdao University Affiliated Hospital Liver Disease Center, Guilin Medical College, Guilin Funeral Home, Pingle County Funeral Home, Yongfu County Funeral Home, etc. Additionally, it also involves the controlled Yunnan Shuifu City Crematorium, Chongqing Banan District Crematorium, Guizhou Shiqian County Crematorium, Sichuan Daying County Crematorium by the criminal suspect Su, among others.
According to reports from Sina Finance and Deep Blue Finance, Tianyancha shows that in the disclosure of consumables filing results with China National Pharmaceutical Group Quanzhou Co., Ltd., Shanxi Aorui Company appeared as the manufacturer of homologous bone implant materials for China National Pharmaceutical Group Quanzhou Company, with its submitted filing results involving multiple product specifications. Additionally, the company has been mentioned in multiple bid announcements.
In response to this, China National Pharmaceutical Group issued a statement on August 9 stating that the company has no business dealings with Shanxi Aorui Bio-material Co., Ltd., and has no relationship with them.
China National Pharmaceutical Group, whose full name is China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation, is the core enterprise under China National Pharmaceutical Group, belonging to a state-owned enterprise owned by the Chinese Communist Party. The company currently owns and operates China’s largest pharmaceutical distribution and delivery network.
According to the disclosed case materials, Shanxi Aorui Company’s legal representative and actual controller Cong Maoyi is currently under arrest and wanted online.
Tianyancha data shows that Cong Maoyi previously served as the legal representative of 12 pharmaceutical companies, and currently, only Shanxi Aorui Company remains in existence, while the others have been deregistered. The 17 medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies where he was a shareholder have also mostly been deregistered, with only 5 still in operation.
Another company involved in the case, Sichuan Hengpu Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Sichuan Hengpu Company), has a complex relationship with Shanxi Aorui Company.
According to Tianyancha, Sichuan Hengpu Company was formerly known as Chengdu Zhongfu Aorui Bio-material Co., Ltd., which, by name, appears to be a subsidiary of Shanxi Aorui Company. While it may be difficult to discern the relationship between the two on the surface, Su Chengzhong, the second largest shareholder of Shanxi Aorui Company, is indeed the legal representative of Sichuan Hengpu Company.
According to media reports such as Jiemian News, the core enterprise in this case, Shanxi Aorui Company, was established in Taiyuan in November 1999 as a subsidiary of the China Institute of Radiation Protection (referred to as CIRP), which is a subsidiary unit of China’s top central enterprise China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). After a restructuring in 2012, Cong Maoyi held a 54.08% stake in Shanxi Aorui Company, being the largest shareholder, legal representative, and chairman; Su Chengzhong held a 45.92% stake and was the general manager; while Li Baoxing was responsible for the company’s operations.
As revealed in the case materials, Sichuan Hengpu Company has been an important source of human skeletal materials for Shanxi Aorui Company.
The case documents state that since 2012, Su Chengzhong has invested in Shanxi Aorui Company, responsible for the company’s human skeletal raw material supply and sales of “homologous bone” products in 13 provinces and cities including Southwest, Northeast, and Northwest China. In 2014, Su Chengzhong established Sichuan Hengpu Company to illegally obtain bodies and body parts for the production and processing of “homologous bone” products, and sold some human skeletal materials to Shanxi Aorui Company.
From 2017 to 2019, in order to expand the source of bodies and body parts, Su Chengzhong successively controlled four crematories across Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, and Sichuan, through contracting, investing, and stationing personnel, where he arranged for individuals at these facilities to steal bodies. In total, he provided over 4,000 human skeletal remains to Sichuan Hengpu Company.
According to reports from The Paper, the two landline numbers left in the industrial and commercial information system by Sichuan Hengpu Company are currently not being answered.
This “body trafficking case” has exploded on the internet after being reported by the media, sparking discussions among netizens. Some netizens are curious about what this “homologous bone” is used for.
It is known that “homologous bone” is a type of material used in orthopedic bone defect repair. Based on the source of materials, orthopedic bone defect repair materials can be divided into autologous bone, natural bone repair materials, and artificial bone repair materials. The “homologous bone” involved in this case is classified as a natural bone repair material.
Homologous bone is a common biological material in orthopedic repair, even in plastic surgery. However, typically, this type of homologous bone mainly comes from donors, including body and living tissue donations. After obtaining bone tissue, a series of processing steps such as disinfection and sterilization are carried out to make it suitable for transplantation.
According to official data, natural bone repair materials account for about two-thirds of the bone defect repair materials that have been listed in the Chinese market, with homologous bone occupying over 90% of the market share. The potential of the Chinese bone repair market is huge.
Among the A-share listed pharmaceutical companies, many are involved in orthopedic bone defect materials, such as Awesbio Medical, Zhenghai Biology, Chunli Medical, Weigao Orthopedic, and Kailai Tai.
As the “body trafficking case” continues to develop, on the morning of August 9, Chinese orthopedic material concept stocks opened high, with Zhenghai Biology, Awesbio Medical, and Daboo Medical all hitting the limit up, while Kailai Tai, Weigao Orthopedics, Guanhao Biology, Kontor Medical, and Chunli Medical opened up more than 7%.
Regarding the exposure of the “body trafficking case” leading to a surge in Chinese orthopedic material concept stocks, some netizens commented, saying: “Why isn’t it hitting the lower limit, but instead the upper limit, what kind of society is this, it’s truly a hell on earth.”
Another netizen expressed: “Is this an industry consensus, exposed only because of business competition?” “I used to think about donating my body after death, but if things are like this, can I sell my own body and give my parents some financial support?” “Is the use of bones from bodies an unwritten rule accepted by all parties? It’s truly a precarious world, worse than anything imaginable.”