Vasectomies in vogue for Taiwanese businessmen

It's a twist on the government's slogan for cross-strait business investment, "Leaving your roots in Taiwan."

Increasingly, the wives of Taiwanese businessmen are forcing their husbands to undergo vasectomies before leaving for China, medical statistics show.

But the idea isn't to keep men from fooling around while away on business. It's to prevent Taiwan businessmen from siring any potential heirs that could later lay claim to the family fortune.

According to Wu kuo-jun (吳國均), the head of Yin Shu-tien Medical Hospital's (書田醫院) urological department, the number of men getting vasectomies is on the rise. Nearly half the men who have the operation, Wu said, do so under threat from their wives.

Wu said he believes one of the main reasons for the trend is the prevalence of cross-strait, extra-marital affairs in China, and Beijing's get-tough stance on adultery.

Taiwanese businessmen in China are known to develop not only industry but extra-marital relationships -- a practice known as pao er nai (包二奶), "literally keeping two wives."

These men support a wife in Taiwan and a mistress in China, and sometimes even have two entire families separately on each side of the Strait.

On April 28, China's ninth Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopted stricter laws aimed at combatting the problem of extra-marital affairs. The tougher rules prohibit a married person from living with another partner.

Wu also speculated that wives might want to protect their husbands from having unwanted pregnancies and leaving themselves vulnerable to prosecution in China.

Wu said the number of vasectomies at his hospital in 1994 was 18. In 1997 it was more than 100, in 1999 more than 200, and last year roughly 250.

"Machismo, ignorance of the difference between a vasectomy and castration, and the fear of losing one's manhood and essence were once reasons for which most men would not get a vasectomy," said Cheng Yong-li (鄭永利), a doctor of urology at Cathay General Hospital (國泰醫院). "However, times are slowly changing."

Wu said that 30 percent of all vasectomies are wanted by the man, 30 percent are accepted but not wanted by the man, and 40 percent of men who underwent vasectomies were coerced by their wives. The data also show that men in this final category are mostly between the ages of 40 and 50.

"These older men are usually on their way to do business in China. Their wives force them to have the operation before they leave," Wu explained.