Chinese authorities yesterday said they had arrested a man accused of keeping his wife chained in a shack and punished at least 17 local officials over a case that has sparked viral outrage.
The incident triggered intense debate on mental health and human trafficking last month after a blogger’s video showed her with a chain and padlock around her neck in freezing weather in Jiangsu Province.
Provincial authorities said the woman was found to have schizophrenia and had been sold several times, including once in 1998 for 5,000 yuan (US$792), after being taken from her village in Yunnan Province.
Officials said that “special actions to comprehensively and thoroughly investigate and rectify the violation of rights” were being taken.
They added that the woman — known as “Xiaohuamei,” which means “little plum blossom” and is likely a nickname — is a mother of eight children and is receiving hospital treatment.
Officials in the area where she was found had initially denied allegations of any abduction and trafficking, but higher-level investigations were launched after a public outcry.
Xiaohuamei is said to have disappeared after living for a few months with a man in Jiangsu who had bought her, and was soon taken in by a couple who operated a hotel, the probe found.
She was then sold again to two other people before being bought by her current husband’s family.
The husband, surnamed Dong, was formally arrested on Tuesday, along with two other people accused of trafficking, authorities said.
Investigations are ongoing against six others allegedly involved in trafficking her, while eight local officials have been dismissed from their posts and nine others handed various punishments.
The case continued to generate anger yesterday, with a related hashtag on China’s Sina Weibo platform attracting 580 million views shortly after the news of the punishments came.
“The credibility of our government has long been lost,” one user said of the latest statement. “You haven’t shown us evidence.”
Others called for a national crackdown on trafficking.
China’s one-child policy — only relaxed in 2016 — has led to a shortage of women due to a traditional preference for boys.
The resulting gender imbalance is believed to have fueled human trafficking, a US congressional report said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS