A Nanfang Daily investigation into the illegal trading of human kidneys has revealed the simple, yet rather unseemly motivation behind the business: Money, and vast sums of money at that.

Of course, the illegal trade involves real people as well. One such person is Xiao Ding, aged 22, who travelled to Guangdong Province with the aim of selling his kidney in order to pay for an abortion for his girlfriend. Yet another case involved 19-year-old A Meng, who was willing to part with a kidney in order to get his hands on the much-coveted Ipad2 and Iphone4S. These are just two cases which provide a graphic insight into China's black market in organ trafficking.

Statistics indicate that, annually, there are almost one million patients in China who are in urgent need of kidney transplants. Despite this, fewer than 4,000 transplants were performed in 2011.

The trade in the illegal trafficking of human kidneys has grown into a huge underground network around China, with the so-called "brokers" centralized in the Pearl River Delta region, which is home to more migrant workers than other regions. According to one insider, the brokers are separated into two groups, one of which stakes out hospitals, constantly on the lookout for patients, while the other searches for those willing to sell their kidneys.

One man, who goes by the moniker Qiang Zi, is a boss who oversees the group in search of people willing to sell their kidneys. Qiang Zi receives 50,000 yuan (almost US$8,000) each time he locates someone willing to sell a kidney. Lured by the promise of quick money, some doctors in private hospitals are willing to risk their careers to perform the operations.

All aspects of the organs trade, including advertising and brokering, are illegal. This February, Beijing authorities prosecuted 16 people suspected of being involved in organizing the sale of human organs. The case is the biggest of its kind so far.

On March 22, vice health minister Huang Jiefu stressed the importance of rapidly establishing a comprehensive human organ donation system in China. Chinese legal experts are also calling for legislation regarding organ transplants to be updated as soon as possible in order to close the loopholes through which the country's chaotic trade in illegal organs operates.