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Chinese student, 17, sells his kidney for RMB 22,000 to buy iPad 2
Updated: 03 Jun 2011
Gadget crazy: Xiao Zheng, 17, sold his kidney for an iPad2
A teenager in China has caused an outcry after selling his kidney to buy an iPad2.
Xiao Zheng, 17, could not afford one of the new tablet-style computers that are seen as symbols of wealth in China.
But he answered an advert offering cash to healthy people willing to have one of their kidneys removed in a gruelling operation.
His action horrified his mother and has caused outrage in China.
The teenager told Shenzhen TV in the southern province of Guangdong: "I wanted to buy an iPad2, but I didn't have the money.
"When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by an agent saying they were able to buy a kidney."
Xiao travelled to the city of Chenzhou in Hunan Province where the kidney was removed at a local hospital.
The scar was left after his right kidney was removed
Private surgeons had hired out a room at the facility to perform the risky procedure on April 28.
He was discharged after three days and given 20,000 yuan, or £1,884, for the organ.
He bought an iPad2 and an ****** but when he returned home his suspicious mother wanted to know where the goods had come from.
Xiao confessed to having the operation and showed her his enormous scar. He has since suffered medical complications.
"When he came back, he had a laptop and a new ***** handset," his mother said.
"I wanted to know how he had got so much money and he finally confessed that he had sold one of his kidneys."
Police were called but they could not trace any of the three men who had organised the operation.
The case has caused uproar in China with people complaining that materialism has destroyed morals in the young.
One commentator wrote, according to the Telegraph: "This teenager's stupid behavior is a manifestation of his radically materialistic values."
The iPad2 has been wildly popular in China with thousands of people cramming into shops to try to buy one.
Scuffles flared last month outside several ***** Stores in Beijing as people queued for the newly launched gadget.
Updated: 03 Jun 2011
Gadget crazy: Xiao Zheng, 17, sold his kidney for an iPad2
A teenager in China has caused an outcry after selling his kidney to buy an iPad2.
Xiao Zheng, 17, could not afford one of the new tablet-style computers that are seen as symbols of wealth in China.
But he answered an advert offering cash to healthy people willing to have one of their kidneys removed in a gruelling operation.
His action horrified his mother and has caused outrage in China.
The teenager told Shenzhen TV in the southern province of Guangdong: "I wanted to buy an iPad2, but I didn't have the money.
"When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by an agent saying they were able to buy a kidney."
Xiao travelled to the city of Chenzhou in Hunan Province where the kidney was removed at a local hospital.
The scar was left after his right kidney was removed
Private surgeons had hired out a room at the facility to perform the risky procedure on April 28.
He was discharged after three days and given 20,000 yuan, or £1,884, for the organ.
He bought an iPad2 and an ****** but when he returned home his suspicious mother wanted to know where the goods had come from.
Xiao confessed to having the operation and showed her his enormous scar. He has since suffered medical complications.
"When he came back, he had a laptop and a new ***** handset," his mother said.
"I wanted to know how he had got so much money and he finally confessed that he had sold one of his kidneys."
Police were called but they could not trace any of the three men who had organised the operation.
The case has caused uproar in China with people complaining that materialism has destroyed morals in the young.
One commentator wrote, according to the Telegraph: "This teenager's stupid behavior is a manifestation of his radically materialistic values."
The iPad2 has been wildly popular in China with thousands of people cramming into shops to try to buy one.
Scuffles flared last month outside several ***** Stores in Beijing as people queued for the newly launched gadget.
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