Chinese Girl Sells Virginity to Cure Brother's Cancer

By William Lee

A young woman in China has resorted to selling her virginity in a final bid to raise funds to treat her brother’s cancer. 

Earlier this month, 19-year-old Xu Yanhua was spotted on the Hangzhou metro with a sign that read: "The treatment will cost more than RMB200,000. My family can't afford it. Which kind-hearted person can save my brother?"

According to the story on the sign, Xu comes from Qiubei County in Yunnan Province and is a high school student.

Xu's brother was diagnosed with leukemia three years go and her family is too poor to afford the treatment the 23-year-old needs to survive. The family spent all its savings on a bone marrow transplant, but unfortunately the young man suffered a bad reaction and the treatment was ineffective.

As her brother’s condition deteriorated, Xu felt the need to turn to more drastic measures to get him the help he so desperately needs.

In a report on Netease, it was revealed that Xu had gone as far as getting a certificate from a hospital confirming her virginity. 

A Netease reporter went to visit the brother in hospital. He said he felt crippled by the burden his condition was putting on his family and called his sister “foolish." He wished she would return home to finish her education. 

The Xu family's plight has garnered much attention, not least from the police. The authorities were obliged to detain the girl as the consequences of her intention would be illegal in China regardless of her motives.

Netizens have been embroiled in debate over the morality of the situation.

"If the help seekers only want to grab attention from the public, it will cause our charity industry to be vulgar and overly sensationalized, and this will prevent the existing rescue system from developing," said one commenter.

"If I were your brother, knowing what you have done, I would live in pain for the rest of my life even if I recovered," wrote another.

Xu's roommate, a leukemia survivor herself, decribed her as a "simple and kind-hearted girl" and said that she was trying to find a way out an awful situation in a "very innocent way."

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