Anonymous ID: 6901be Feb. 21, 2022, 5:43 a.m. No.15681722   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun   >>1728

Chinese officials investigate woman chained by neck in shed

 

Chinese officials are reportedly investigating a distressing video depicting a woman chained by the neck in a shed that has sparked concerns about human trafficking.

 

Chinese authorities identified the woman Monday as Xiaohuamei, which means Little Plum Blossom, and said her relatives had not heard from her since 1996, the Wall Street Journal reported. She is believed to be mentally ill, and officials said they are investigating her husband.

 

โ€œThis case is egregious and especially bad,โ€ Yaqiu Wang, a senior researcher on China at Human Rights Watch, told Bloomberg News. โ€œOver the years, we have heard many stories about women being forced into villages due to a gender imbalance.โ€

 

The video was posted by a Chinese vlogger, or video blogger, who visited her village Jan. 26. It included interviews with her children, who informed the vlogger that they feed her every day. The vlogger noted that it was 0 degrees Celsius at that point and that Xiaohuamei was wearing thin clothing. The video sparked backlash and outrage on Chinese social media. It also prompted concerns about possible human trafficking in the case.

 

On Jan. 28, shortly after the video of Xiaohuamei surfaced, officials from, Feng County, where she is from, said she was married to a local man named Dong and was the mother of eight children, according to the Wall Street Journal. At the time, officials said she was living separately from her family because she was sometimes violent.

 

On Monday, Chinese authorities in Xuzhou said they believe both of Xiaohuamei's parents died and that she became a beggar in 1998 until Dong took her in and married her, the South China Morning Post reported. She was previously married to another man until getting divorced in 1996, and her mother tried to get her treatment in Jiangsu at the time, according to the report. Jiangsu is more than 2,000 miles away from where she was found in the January video.

 

Authorities in Xuzhou also confirmed through DNA testing that Xiaohuamei is the biological mother of her eight children, What's On Weibo reported. This is in violation of China's current three-child policy, though it is unclear if Xiaohuamei or her husband will face penalties for violating the policy.

 

Xiaohuamei currently has nine teeth left due to a gum infection, doctors told China Central Television. Following the controversy over the video, she has been taken to a local hospital where she is being treated for schizophrenia, the outlet reported.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/chinese-officials-investigate-woman-chained-by-neck-in-shed