Viral video sparks debate over human trafficking

It is a problem that had not been talked about much in China, and even obtaining official data about it can be next to impossible. Then came a viral video of a woman dressed in thin clothing despite the cold weather, and with a metal chain around her neck, and suddenly people began talking not only about the low status of women in China but also about human trafficking as well. To many, the woman in the video — which was uploaded in January 2022 and then deleted when it became controversial — could only be a victim of one of the country’s open secrets.

Human trafficking has long been a problem in China. But it became particularly rampant during the 1980s and 1990s, due to child trafficking under the country’s one-child policy and the traditional preference for boys. Then again, that also coincided with the time Chinese media were still able to do investigative stories, which could be why stories about it proliferated at the time.

Kecheng Fang, assistant professor of media and communications at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says that the period between 1990 and 2010 was the peak for mainland media to play a supervisory role in social problems. Since then, control has been tightened over the media. In the case of the woman chained by her neck, Fang says that the watchdog role of mainstream media was “nearly absent.”

That phrase can also be used to describe accessible data on human trafficking in China. While it is true that reliable statistics on human trafficking are hard to collate because of its clandestine nature, there is also a lack of regular releases of law enforcement data in China, which could help determine whether or not the problem has gotten worse or where the hot spots are.

Indeed, information transparency is essential to combat human trafficking. But this seems to be omitted in the authorities’ narrative. Yaqiu Wang, a senior China researcher from Human Rights Watch admits that the global rights watchdog is hardpressed to access human trafficking data in China. She says that local nongovernment organizations have the same problem as well.

Wang adds, “It’s not just us not having access, domestic media has also become less and less able to do investigative stories. I couldn’t find any stories in the Chinese media about this kind of story (the woman chained by her neck).”

Observers say that this may be giving human traffickers the impression that they can do as they please without worrying about the consequences. At the very least, academic Fang says that the weakening monitoring by media may have made local governments like that in Feng County, in Xuzhou, eastern China, where the woman chained by her neck was filmed, think they could treat the issue lightly, if not ignore it altogether.

A stack of statements

Ironically, the video was supposed to be part of the uploader’s efforts to obtain donations for poor families. Instead, it upset many of those who viewed it and led to calls for an investigation on what caused her to be in that state. But many were also left dissatisfied by the initial statements issued by Feng County regarding the incident; people thought that local officials were not only being opaque, they were also trivializing the problem.

Feng County’s very first statement issued at the end of January, for example, said that the woman was surnamed Yang (which later turned out to be a name given to her by her husband), had married her husband in 1998, and was not a victim of human trafficking. It also stated that she had been diagnosed with mental illness and often attacked elderly people and children, and concluded that the mother of eight had already been treated, and her family given further assistance so that they could have a warm Lunar New Year.

But the public thought this was inadequate information and demanded more. Under strong public pressure, authorities ended up issuing four more statements within a month, each telling a story more elaborate yet somehow contradictory than the last.

The latest one was issued on Feb. 23, 2022 by a high-level investigation team in Jiangsu province, after it stepped in and took over the task from the Feng County and Xuzhou city governments, which had made the earlier reports. The province-level report identified the woman as Xiao Huamei. She had been abducted by traffickers in 1998 and was twice sold as a bride that year, including the final deal in which she was married to her current husband surnamed Dong.

Dong was arrested and charged with abuse; he is being investigated on suspicion of buying an abducted woman, with two other people arrested for trafficking. Under China’s criminal law, penalties for trafficking women and children range from five years in jail to life imprisonment or even death, while the maximum prison term for people who buy abducted or trafficked women is three years. Meanwhile, 17 public officials from Feng County, including the county-level party secretary and deputy secretary, have been punished for “dereliction of duty.”

The female factor

Women are the primary victims of human traffickers in China, where females have long been valued less than males, and are often treated as commodities. A millennial who wants to be known only as Chen says that when she watched the controversial video, she was reminded of how she and her three sisters were treated by their relatives.

“When my grandfather died, there was an unfair inheritance for my family because we have no boy,” says Chen. “Even these days, this mindset still affects my younger cousins who are in their twenties. For example, if they find out the unborn child is a girl but they already had a daughter or two, they would consider an abortion.”

Chen adds that the chained woman incident made her reflect on women’s status in China. She says that she is eager for a change, but has been disappointed by the authorities’ approach to the case.

Chinese human traffickers victimize both locals and foreign nationals. In 2018, Human Rights Watch issued a report regarding bride trafficking from northern Myanmar into China. The 2021 U.S. State Department report on human trafficking in China also says, “Women and girls from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and several countries in Africa experience forced labor in domestic service, forced concubinism leading to forced childbearing, and sex trafficking via forced and fraudulent marriage to Chinese men. Traffickers target adults and children with developmental disabilities and children whose parents have left them with relatives to migrate to the cities — estimated at 6.4 million — and subject them to forced labor and forced begging.”

“Well-organized criminal syndicates and local gangs subject Chinese women and girls to sex trafficking within China,” the U.S. State Department report says as well. “Traffickers typically recruit them from rural areas and take them to urban centers, using a combination of fraudulent job offers and coercion by imposing large travel fees, confiscating passports, confining victims, or physically and financially threatening victims to compel their engagement in commercial sex.”

“China’s national household registry system (hukou) continues to restrict rural inhabitants’ freedom to legally change their residence, placing China’s internal migrant population — estimated to exceed 169 million men, women, and children — at high risk of forced labor in brick kilns, coal mines, and factories,” it continues. “Some of these businesses operate illegally and take advantage of lax government enforcement. Chinese nationals are subjected to conditions indicative of forced labor in BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) projects in several countries.”

Turning to technology

The United States has currently placed China among Tier 3 countries, which means China can be subject to sanctions. According to the report, this is because China “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, even considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity.” The report acknowledges, however, that China has been taking “some steps to address trafficking, including by continuing to prosecute and convict some traffickers ….”

The Chinese government has also been relying more on technology to combat human trafficking. In the first national plan to combat trafficking of women and children, issued in 2007, one goal was to “formalize cooperation among agencies and establish a national information and reporting system.”

The importance of an information system continued to be emphasized when the State Council of China updated the National Plan in March 2013 and in April last year, both calling for improving the information release system and the national DNA database for missing children.

In 2009, the Ministry of Public Security established a national DNA database to fight human trafficking. The ministry also launched the missing children alert platform Tuanyuan (Reunion) in May 2016, which operates by connecting dozens of popular apps, such as Xinhua News and Weibo, to the system, so that app users who are in the areas where a child has been reported missing can receive alerts and help local police with any information they might have.

According to China’s Ministry of Public Security, these have led to a decrease in child trafficking cases year by year since 2012 — from 5,907 that year to 666 in 2020, a significant drop of nearly 90 percent. Moreover, the latest data disclosed by the ministry in January 2022 revealed that 10,932 missing and abducted children have been found, thanks to the Tuanyuan Campaign.

Getting to the problem’s root

After the controversy over the woman chained by her neck, many people began questioning the effectiveness of using technology to tackle human trafficking — which has also led to other concerns. For example, a Communist Party member’s recent suggestion for kindergarten and primary school students to register their DNA data when they enroll, for example, has started a heated debate between its supporters and those who worry about invasion of privacy.

Maya Wang, another senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, argues that there are many alternative solutions that do not put privacy at risk. She also notes, “Necessity, proportionality, and lawfulness are the three requirements for the authority to comply with when deploying technology to obtain personal information.”

Kecheng Fang meanwhile says that to solve the problem, it is better to get to its root. He points out, “Perhaps the real question should be: what are the rationales for human trafficking to continue existing in China?”

Fang says that it could be related to many systemic problems, such as gender inequality, poverty, and insufficient outreach to disadvantaged groups in rural areas, “and these are not something that could be simply avoided by the government’s enforcement in monitoring or artificial intelligence applications.”

For Chen and other followers of the chained woman’s story, though, the most crucial among all discussions is whether the “awakening” it ignited can last.

“I hope this incident can become a key event in the rise of female consciousness,” Chen says. “The cruel and inhumane living situation of (Xiao Huamei) has woken up lots of people to the living conditions of women. I hope this incident can continue to play such a role.” ●

Stella Tsang is a freelance journalist with a focus on mainland China and Hong Kong issues.