They come for the money. and for the $12 "nourishment fee" Chinese blood donors typically get for filling up the equivalent of a pint bag can make a big difference. Zhang Yimou, a top film director, sold blood to buy his first camera. The peasant heroine of a 1994 hit film, "Ermo," sells blood to buy a television. At a Beijing clinic recently a pale girl in a yellow blouse sold her blood for the first time to buy fertilizer for the family farm. Then there are career donors such as old Mr. Sun, a Beijing fruit peddler who has sold blood 22 times since 1984. Working through a blood broker, or "bloodhead," he stands in illegally for people drafted as donors by their work units—and makes $50 a visit. He has bought a fancy new cart and moved his family to the outskirts of the capital. "Today's happiness is due to Dad's blood," his wife tells their children.
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