Long Read: The Challenges Infertile Couples Face in China

While China is a leading force in assisted reproduction, many couples still struggle to get help

A person carries a child at a park in Beijing on July 14, 2024. Photo: Bloomberg

In the cold stillness of the embryo bank at the Reproductive & Genetic Hospital of Citic-Xiangya in Changsha, Hunan province, nearly 800,000 human embryos lie dormant, preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196°C. These fragile, transparent cells represent the hopes of countless families.

Since its founding in 1980, the hospital has helped bring more than 230,000 “test-tube babies” into the world — born through in vitro fertilization (IVF), where eggs and sperm are combined outside the body before being implanted in the mother’s womb.

In the 1980s, Citic-Xiangya, in collaboration with Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH) and Peking Union Medical College Hospital, spent eight years working on technical advancements that led to a historic milestone in 1988: the first successful IVF birth in the Chinese mainland.

Over the past three decades, China has become a global leader in the field. Now, 300,000 IVF babies are born each year in China, around 3% of the country’s 9 million newborns.