Chained Woman of Xuzhou

Words by Skye Xie

In February 2022, a video from a rural village in Xuzhou broke the Chinese internet and gained global media attention. In the video, a woman can be seen chained in a doorless shack and shivering in coldness. Shocked social media users urged local authorities to investigate the situation and were infuriated when the government issued a half-hearted response, claiming that no criminal activity was involved. However, when the public refused to buy the story and independent investigators set out to do their own research, it was soon discovered that the Xuzhou Chained Woman was actually a victim of human trafficking. Despite being officially identified as Xiao Huamei from Yunnan province, over 1800 kilometres away from where she was found, Chinese social media users still have doubts about her true identity as many pieces of information provided did not align. Under public pressure, local authorities moved in to rescue the woman and detain her abuser, with whom she had eight children.

But the public outrage continued. The story of the Chained Woman has shed light on a multitude of issues Chinese women have within society. On social media, many said that they could see themselves as the Chained Woman – a victim of human trafficking, forced marriage, and domestic abuse. The inaction of the local authorities has led the public to believe that the government is reluctant to crack down on the buying and selling of women, and some attributed this reluctance to the sheer number of purchased brides in rural China. ‘They would have to arrest whole villages of people’ Weibo users claimed. Statistics reveal that Xuzhou, despite being in the southeast of China, hosts an abnormally large population of women from minority ethnic groups from the southwest. A lot of these women came from extreme poverty and were sold as brides to other provinces by their relatives. Similar patterns can be observed in other provinces, too. One example is a Buyi (a minority ethnic group in China) woman who was sold from Guizhou to Henan. For 35 years, her children did not know her real name as she could not understand nor speak much Chinese. The women are usually subjugated to extreme violence if they attempt to escape. As the purchase of brides is a common practice in many rural areas, villagers and local police often refuse to offer any help to these women. Some would even ‘return’ them to the families they escaped from, where they would suffer long-term abuse.

In recent years, feminism has become a sensitive topic in China as gender equality declines. Facing an aging society, the central government seeks to push women ‘back home’ to produce more babies and regards feminism as a harmful ideology to the country’s social stability. But more young women are embracing feminism and refuse to enter a structure that inherently disadvantages their gender. Many express a fear of being forced into marriage and reproduction like the Chained Woman. The challenge is that feminist activists in China can face great danger. In February, two feminist activists travelled to Xuzhou to support the Chained Woman, only to be detained by local police. Though temporarily released, one activist named Wuyi was again detained in March and her whereabouts remains unknown. On Weibo, users are still calling for the authority to release Wuyi and make more effort in investigating the Chained Woman’s case.

China needs feminism urgently, especially when it comes to its more vulnerable communities. Despite the challenges, Chinese feminists have no choice but to keep fighting back – for the sake of their own freedom, if no one else’s.