Cloning Issues in China Qiu Renzong Abstract: The paper elaborates the various factors which irifluence the debate on cloning issues in China: cultural dimensions, scientism, market force, and legal/regulatory factors, and describes the intellectual basis for the cloning debate and the development of bioethics in mainland China. It then sets out the arguments for and against human reproductive cloning and the arguments for human therapeutic cloning. It concludes that the cloning debate needs cross-cultural dialogue and international collabora­ !ion. Key Words: Cloning culture, Confocianism, Taoism, Person, Embryo, Fetus, Scientism, Human reproductive cloning, Human therapeutic clon­ ing. 1. Introduction Since news of Dolly the sheep was first published in Nature in 1997, human cloning has been the topic of ongoing debate in China, l both in scientific circles and among the general public. Hundreds of articles on the subject have been published in academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers, and it has been featured in a considerable number of TV programmes. Decision makers in science and medicine began to address the ethical, legal and social issues involved in human cloning, and for the first time in its history the Minister of Health convened a meeting of ex­ perts to discuss the implications of nucleus transfer technology. The Chi­ nese govemment has joined France and German in their efforts to per­ suade the United Nations to endorse aresolution prohibiting human re­ productive cloning, despite the fact that some Chinese scientists and phi­ losophers are in favour of it. Since then bioethics as a discipline has been very much in the limelight. The cloning debate in China is taking place at a time when the country is in transition from a monolithic society to a more or less plural­ istic civil society. The factors influencing the debate are complicated. China has had a characteristic culture for thousands of years, which is built on three teachings: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Of them, Confucianism is the dominant one and is firmly rooted in many Chinese minds and in many social conventions. In the decades after 1949 the chief ideology was Marxism-Leninism in its Chinese version. Since the new 52 Cloning Issues in China policy in 1987, China has been gradually integrated into the international community, and the influence of Western culture has become increasingly pervasive. Liberalism, feminism and communitarianism became new con­ ceptual resources. With the govemment's commitment to market economy and the rule by law, economic and legal factors have also become very important during the last two decades. 2. Cultural Dimensions of Cloning Issues Chinese Cosmology For Confucians and Taoists the universe and all of its inhabitants are composed of qi, a physico-psychological entity with the capacity for cre­ ation, change and transformation, which has two basic forms, yin and yang (or yin-yang). The generation, change and transformation of all things are produced by their interaction. The universe and its inhabitants are participants in an organic whole that interacts in a self-generating cosmos. There is no ultimate cause, no creator, no external will, and no judge. The universe has always existed, there was never a time when it did not exist, and therefore the question of a creative act simply could not logically arise. According to this unique cosmology, all forms of life are com­ posed of qi and its two basic forms, yin and yang. As classical writers claimed, "Life is the condensation of qi, and death is the dispersion of qi." (Zhuang Zi 22) "Yin-Yang is the tao of Heaven and Earth, the law of all things, the cause of changes and the basis of life and death." (Interior Classic 01 Huangdi: Questions and Answers about Living Matter) ''Yin­ yang causes the beginning and end of all things, and is the root of life and death. If you run counter against them, you will suffer catastrophe, and if you follow them, you will avoid disease." (Interior Classic 01 Huangdi: Questions and Answers about Living Matter). In the evolution of qi, different forms of qi assembling produce things in different kinds, and different degrees of qi refinement form things in different degree. The human being is composed of the most refined form of yin-yang. Peitai - Embryo Embryo in Chinese is peitai. In ancient books, pei and tai mean "begin­ ning," "condensation of blood," "anything not formed," "in a woman's womb," "pregnant for one month" or "pregnant for three months.,,2 Since the study and dissection of the aborted foetus or embryo as well as the .