Xuzhou chained woman incident

Douyin video screenshot, showing Feng County woman Yang was chained to the neck, locked in a broken house.

The Xuzhou chained woman incident (Chinese: 徐州铁链女事件), also known as the Xuzhou eight-child mother incident (Chinese: 徐州八孩母亲事件), is a case of human trafficking, false imprisonment, sexual assault, severe mistreatment, and subsequent events that came to light in late January 2022 in Xuzhou's Feng County, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China. The video of a mentally disturbed[1] and unlawfully imprisoned woman who was chained to a wall and who gave birth to eight children went viral on China's internet and sparked a huge public outcry.[2][3][4]

Due to strict political control and censorship of media in China, many of the country's top investigative journalists left the profession in the 2010s. As a result, Chinese internet users who demanded answers had to dig into the story themselves.[5] Some netizens were arrested while investigating the case,[6] as the incident unfolded during the politically sensitive period of the 2022 Winter Olympics.[7]

Local officials first dismissed the human trafficking claims on 28 January, by saying the woman had been legitimately married to a local man and was mentally ill.[8] However, facing continuous public pressure, Chinese authorities later conducted two higher-level investigations that led to the arrests of two people suspected of human trafficking, as well as the woman's husband for "illegal detention".[9][10] Authorities have also punished 17 officials in the county for "dereliction of duty" in the handling of the case.[11][12] Public opinion used this incident to call on the Chinese government to protect rural women and individuals with mental illnesses, and to combat the issues of trafficking women and children as well as sexual assault in rural areas of China.[2] There are also voices of skepticism questioning the actions of local government and official media in handling this event.[3][4]

  1. ^ "China jails six for up to 11 years in case of chained woman". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2023-11-03. Retrieved 28 January 2024. The video, which surfaced in January last year, showed the woman in an apparently confused state in the eastern province of Jiangsu.
  2. ^ a b "中国农村八孩母亲被栓破屋的视频在网上激起民愤" (in Chinese). WSJ. Archived from the original on 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
  3. ^ a b Wang, Vivian; Dong, Joy (31 January 2022). "Video of Mentally Ill Woman Chained in Shack Stirs Anger in China". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  4. ^ a b "Xuzhou mother: Video of chained woman in hut outrages China internet". BBC. Archived from the original on 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  5. ^ "The mystery of the chained woman in China". NPR. 17 February 2022. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Suspected human traffickers arrested in China after woman found in chains". The Independent. 2022-02-11. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC News 2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Tone, Sixth (23 February 2022). "Investigators Release Trafficking Details of Woman Chained to Wall". Sixth Tone. Archived from the original on 2022-02-27. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  12. ^ "Dozens in China face punishment over case involving chained woman". Reuters. 2022-02-23. Archived from the original on 2022-02-27. Retrieved 2022-02-27.