The Chinese government is facing a dilemma: How to convince its people that the statement it made about a chained female was true.
Since a short videoThe image of the woman held in a doorless shack by her husband went viral in January. The Chinese public took the matter into their own hands to determine who she is, if she was a victim of human trafficking, and why the woman, who is apparently mentally ill, had eight children.
The public thought it couldn’t trust a government that was not truthful about her identity and that was acquiescent when it came to forced marriages involving human trafficking.
Chinese social media users discovered a marriage certificate with a photograph of a woman. Although she was identified as the chained female, the photo showed that she looked different. They looked into court documents and discovered that the area she was born in had a long history of human trafficking. Long-retired investigative journalists traveled to a village deep in the mountains, knocking on each door, to verify the government’s claim that she grew up there.
“No social events have ever had the same effect on netizens like the one of the chained woman,” a user called “Xudiqiuziyuanku” wrote on the social media platform WeChat. “It forced us to become detectives, analysts, A.I. image in-painting technicians, data mining engineers and Sherlock Holmes.”
The Chinese public staged a rare online revolt because it felt that the government had failed to prioritize the personal safety of women, despite its claims that women “hold up half of the sky.”
It’s one of the biggest credibility challenges Beijing has faced in recent years. The chained woman became a symbol for injustice, bringing together liberals, nationalist digital warriors, and apolitical moderates. Many are concerned that the chain around her neck could fall on them, or their loved ones, both literally and metaphorically.
The #MeToo movement has been started on the Chinese internet by the video of the woman in chains. Many people have shared their stories of abducted mothers, daughters, and classmates.
“We’re not bystanders, but survivors,” goes a popular social media quip. “We’re not rescuing the chained woman. Instead, she’s rescuing us.”
The top three most popular hashtags on Twitter about the chained woman have accumulated more than 10 million views. They are comparable to the number of views for the Beijing Winter Olympics which were heavily promoted by Weibo as well as official media outlets. And the topic continues to hold people’s attention online amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Even some of Beijing’s most devoted supporters expressed their sympathy toward the woman. They’re also worried that the poorly managed crisis could challenge the government’s authority. “Politically this is tragic,” Hu Xijin, the retired editor in chief of the official Global Times, wrote in February. “It’s a clear warning that the government’s credibility has been weakened significantly.”
This outpouring is similar to the one that took place in 2020 following the death of a Chinese physician who shared his knowledge about the coronavirus epidemic. In this highly censored society, it’s rare for ordinary Chinese to express critical views of the government. Many people are willing to speak up because they feel vulnerable — and guilty for not being aware of the problems already.
“If justice cannot be served in this case,” Zhao Jianfeng, an internet entrepreneur in Hangzhou, wrote on his WeChat timeline, “this place will fall into a very long and very dark night.”
“I felt that if this case isn’t resolved,” wrote a science writer with the Weibo handle @Luka, “happiness will be superficial and many things will be meaningless.”
Hundreds of graduates from some of China’s most prominent universities signed petitions, urging the central government to investigate the case.
Several bookstores set up sections for books that could help readers understand the case, including “Masculine Domination” by Pierre Bourdieu, “Men Explain Things to Me” by Rebecca Solnit and “Jane Doe January: My Twenty-Year Search for Truth and Justice” by Emily Winslow.
Chinese bloggers, lawyers, academics, ex-journalists, and former journalists helped provide a crash course to the public on human trafficking and forced marriage. They resurfaced films, documentaries, books, and news reports on abducted women.
The public learned that China’s legal system was set up to protect the men who paid for abducted women. In a viral video, a prominent legal scholar said that buying a woman could lead to up to 3 years in jail. This is the same punishment as the sentence for purchasing 20 frogs. The courts often rejected divorce applications from victims of human trafficking, stating that if they stayed with the men, it was sufficient evidence of a good marriage.
They discovered how easy it was for women, even those with high education, to be trafficked.
Some of the stories were based on court documents and official media reports. A graduate student from Shanghai was kidnapped on a field trip and sold on to a man with a large frame. After 71 days, she was finally rescued. A 13-year old girl from Beijing was kidnapped while on her way to school. She was sold to a man who beat her constantly. She had a son at 15 and couldn’t escape until she turned 19. A young woman from Hangzhou, China was abducted while on a business trip. She lived in a remote village for the next two decades. After her son went off to college, her mother informed her parents. She was eventually rescued.
However, the vast majority of victims of human trafficking came from the most disadvantaged areas in China. Few were saved. Because whole villages watched them, it was almost impossible for them to escape. After being caught, they were beaten and taken to jail.
According to court documents, selling and reselling mentally ill women was a common practice in certain parts of China.
A 2020 verdict revealed that a Hubei Province woman suffering from schizophrenia was sold three more times in less than two year. A 2017 verdict revealed that a woman suffering from mental illness was sold to Shandong Province’s man and was then beaten to death by his mother.
The more people learned about what victims of human trafficking had gone through, the more furious they felt about the government’s conflicting statements about the chained woman. They wanted to find out who she was, what the government would do to help other women like her, and how they would prosecute those responsible.
According to Jiangsu’s Feb. 23 statement, the 44-year-old chained woman has lived a tragic and difficult life. This is the fifth such statement since January.
Named Xiaohuamei, she grew in a remote village in Yunnan’s southwestern province. After she divorced at age 20, she showed signs of mental illness. A couple took her to eastern Jiangsu Province in 1998. She was sold twice within one year, the second to Dong Zhimin’s relatives.
According to the statement, she had a son with Mr. Dong in 1999. She then gave birth to seven additional children between 2011 and 2020. Her mental health began to deteriorate after she had her third child. She was often bound with ropes or chains by Mr. Dong since 2017.
According to the statement, Xiaohuamei was admitted to hospital after being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Mr. Dong has been accused of sexual abuse of a family member. The couple who smuggled her in were charged with human trafficking. 17 low-ranking officials were disciplined.
However, many people remain skeptical about the statement and have reservations. It was hard to trust it, they said, because there was only one source of information — the government — and journalists from relatively independent outlets were barred from investigating.
They were disappointed that Mr. Dong was only charged with abuse and not rape or false imprisonment. The woman was also denied the right to speak for herself. They took issue with many facts the government presented, and many still want to know how and when the woman was married and especially whether she’s the woman in the marriage certificate.
The government said Xiaohuamei didn’t resemble the woman in the marriage certificate because she was now older and had lost most of her teeth. Some social media users were skeptical. These changes were too drastic.
The public is most disappointed with the government’s lack of a serious plan to eradicate human trafficking and forced marriage. Instead, the government seems more interested in regaining control of the narrative.
Two women who attempted to visit the chained lady were detained by local police officers and beaten in February. Their posts and social media accounts were removed. Some social media users who shared posts claimed that they received calls from the police.
The bookstores were instructed to remove their special sections. Professors were warned not to discuss Xiaohuamei’s case with their students.
The government didn’t seem to care whether it was being truthful or not, many people said online. Officials from the government were pushing the version of truth they wanted to believe.
Some social media users shared a short video of compiled footage of Hollywood movies with different characters saying, “I don’t buy it.”
Liu YiContributed research
Source: NY Times