Footage of chained woman held in hut triggers intense discussion

A mother of eight who was confined with an iron chain around her neck has become one of the most-searched figures on Chinese social media over the past month.

Her story, which is being followed by millions of netizens, has sparked intense discussion nationwide over personal rights and the rule of law.

Video footage of the chained and mentally ill woman, wearing light clothing and being held in a dilapidated hut in Fengxian county of Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, was posted late last month and went viral online, shocking the public.

Although the county authorities were quick to say the woman was surnamed Yang, and that she married a man surnamed Dong in 1998, netizens remained doubtful, constantly questioning the woman's identity, her age, and whether she was a victim of human trafficking. They demanded help for her and called for a thorough investigation into the case.

On Wednesday, a team formed last week in Jiangsu announced the result of its investigation, confirming the woman's name as Xiaohuamei, which translates as "little plum blossom". She is 44 and comes from Yagu, a village in Yunnan province, the team said.

The team confirmed that Xiaohuamei and Dong are the biological parents of the eight children, and that she is a victim of human trafficking, which was earlier denied by the county authorities in its official statement.

According to the team's findings, Xiaohuamei spoke abnormally and acted strangely soon after ending her first marriage. She returned to Yagu from another village in Yunnan in 1997. A year later, she was trafficked to Donghai county, Jiangsu, by a woman surnamed Sang and her husband, surnamed Shi.

It is thought that Xiaohuamei was first sold to a man in Donghai for 5,000 yuan in early 1998, and that she disappeared in May that year. A couple running a restaurant in Xiayi county, Henan province, then sold her to two migrant workers one month later. Finally, the two workers brought her to Fengxian and sold her to the father of her current husband, Dong.