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The woman was chained by her husband for many years, forced to give birth to 8 children, exposing the scary hidden corner

Recently, China is facing a scandal that has focused attention on a problem that has plagued the world for many years, which is the widespread human trafficking in the 1980s and continues. until today.

At the end of January, there were reports of a woman chained in a hut in a rural area in eastern China. Subsequent investigations revealed that the woman, surnamed Xiao Huamei, had been abducted by traffickers in southwestern China in the late 90s, then sold to a man on the east coast. . Since then, the man has had eight children with her.

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Woman chained in hut.

Talking numbers

The case has sparked public outrage and calls for a broader investigation into China’s history of human trafficking.

Xiao is not the only victim. Between 2017 and 2020, Chinese courts handled many cases involving at least 1,250 women who were victims of human trafficking. These crimes often follow a certain pattern: Traffickers kidnap and use weak women to sell as wives to men in other parts of China.

There are still many other cases that have not been discovered and are outlawed. A Sixth Tone analysis of census data in the area where Xiao was detained reveals a series of suspicious cases of migration, with large numbers of young women from low-income provinces in the west. South China moved to the east to get married.

Marriages are often concentrated in regions with a history of sex-selective abortions, which causes a large imbalance between men and women. While it’s impossible to be sure how many of these couples are illegal, local residents say some of the women who migrated here were forced into marriage.

The alarming search results call for a nationwide investigation into the long history of human trafficking. After a wave of public outcry over Xiao’s case, China announced it had launched a 10-month investigation into the trade because “there is still a backlog of unresolved cases.” be solved”.

The “chained woman” incident also caused great shock in Feng county, a remote rural area of ​​Xuzhou city in northern Jiangsu province, adjacent to Shanghai. This is a relatively fertile area but suffers from a severe population imbalance.

The main reason behind this imbalance is the region’s “masculine” culture, which has led to many sex-selective abortions to produce boys. A 1998 survey by the China Population and Development Research Center found that pregnant women in rural Jiangsu province regularly had ultrasound scans to determine the sex of their fetuses (a practice that was later considered illegal). is illegal in China) and abortion if it’s a girl.

Families with sons often do not value families without sons. This is very common in rural areas. Family power is very important. If you have a son in your family, who dares to fight with?,” shared a 60-year-old woman living in the area.

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A study discovered in 2021 found that China’s relaxation of its “one-child policy” in recent years has partly reduced the number of abortions due to sex selection. Still, the preference for sons persisted among women who had given birth to a second or third child.

The population imbalance in Xuzhou usually exists only among minors. From the age of 15 onwards, the male-to-female ratio decreases significantly. This happens when there are two situations: either a large number of adult males will typically leave the city, or a large number of women move in.

The case in Xuzhou falls into the second possibility as census data shows no significant decrease in the number of males between 2000 and 2010. Yet more than 60,000 female migrants are recorded. from outside Jiangsu province registered to reside in Xuzhou, 4,400 of which live in Feng County.

Census data also shows that many young women migrate to rural areas north of Jiangsu. In 2010, more than 80% of those who migrated to Feng County from outside Jiangsu Province were women. Most of the counties in the region have similar trends.

Worrying reality

Many of the women come from neighboring Jiangsu provinces, such as Anhui and Shandong, but the majority of young women who migrate to Xuzhou are from remote areas to the southwest of China, including the Sichuan provinces. Xuyen, Guizhou and Yunnan.

Women from the southwestern regions, which are statistically the poorest in China, are more likely to migrate to the rural areas of Xuzhou. Meanwhile, women from eastern China tend to move to the urban center of the city.

Why are so many women moving to northern Jiangsu province? According to census data, about 80% of women migrate to rural areas in northern Jiangsu from outlying provinces to get married.

It’s not clear how many of these marriages are linked to human trafficking. However, in stark contrast to the situation in other regions, 80% of women migrate to southern Jiangsu province for work.

The scenario depicted is a large-scale transnational marriage market, matching women from impoverished regions in southwestern China with single men from rural areas of Jiangsu province at a rate There is a large shortage of women. Studies and direct sources from locals in northern Jiangsu show that such transactions do exist.

In many cases, these transactions are arranged without the consent of the bride. According to a 2003 study by academics at Yunnan University, many families in northern Jiangsu even invest large sums of money to “hunt” wives for their sons. This is especially common in families where a son has health problems, disabilities or mental disorders.

Marriages are often arranged through matchmakers. They searched for women of marriageable age in rural areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou, and offered a “marriage price” to the groom’s family. They then brought the young woman to be introduced to the groom’s family in exchange for a “reward”.

The woman was chained by her husband for many years, forced to give birth to 8 children, exposing the scary dark side of human trafficking in China - Photo 3.

Many provinces in China “hunt wives” for men.

A 2019 study at Kunming University of Science and Technology found that marriages are mostly transactional in nature. Families in southwestern China, who live in poverty, will need to pay dowry fees. And families in eastern China need a woman to marry their son and have children.

The study also found that the bride’s emotions or willingness were often not a factor in these marriages. It is impossible to count how many marriages are arranged forcibly, but rampant human trafficking in northern Jiangsu has existed for decades. In their 1989 book “Ancient Sins,” Chinese authors Xie Zhihong and Jia Lusheng estimated that 48,100 women were trafficked to Xuzhou in the 1980s.

Fan Hui, 24, born and raised in Feng County, shared that she knew three women from southwestern China who were kidnapped and brought back to her village. According to Fan, the fact that these women are victims of human trafficking has been known for a long time, but no one has reported it to the authorities. This is because most locals do not consider human trafficking a crime, the line between arranged marriage and human trafficking is very thin.

Fan learns that two women have been kidnapped from neighboring villages, one of whom is the mother of her classmate. Fan recalls visiting her friend’s house for dinner in 2nd grade and seeing the woman struggling to make dumplings with a severed arm. When Fan asked about it, the woman said that the traffickers cut off her hand as punishment for trying to escape but was caught.

Fan said: “She was silent and sad after sharing about it. The kidnapped women faced many difficulties. They have no friends or relatives, and locals discriminate against outsiders, calling them barbarians.“.

After Xiao Huamei’s case attracted great public attention, Chinese authorities are working to investigate more human trafficking cases in history. Hopefully, if the investigations are done thoroughly, the victims can get justice.

Source: Sixth Tone

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