China opens investigation into woman found chained by neck

There are concerns over how she came to marry a man nearly 2,000 miles away from her home

File. A woman whose video emerged last month of her being tied by a chain around her neck in a hut with no door has raised suspicions that she was trafficked (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Chinese authorities have launched an investigation into the case of a woman whose video emerged last month in which she was found chained by her neck in a hut.

The images and video of the woman had gone viral and soon there were demands for a thorough investigation into her case.

It was reported that authorities in eastern China have started an investigation after pressure from the public to look into the matter.

The woman was identified in the local media only as Xiaohuamei — which means Little Plum Blossom — and was thought to be battling serious mental health illness.

Last month, a video of the woman chained by the neck in a small hut in freezing weather on the outskirts of Xuzhou city in Jiangsu province was shared online. She was found wearing very thin clothing.

The videos of the woman were shared online and soon it sparked outrage.

Authorities said that the woman’s hometown is somewhere far away in the southwestern province of Yunnan in China. Wall Street Journal said that her county in Yunnan is close to the border with Myanmar.

It was also reported by Global Times that authorities are now also looking into whether Little Plum Blossom was trafficked. Authorities suspect that the woman was also possibly neglected by local officials when she was found.

On  28 January, after her video footage was shared, officials of Feng county said the woman was legally married to a local man surnamed Dong.

The authorities said that she lived apart from her family because she was mentally ill and sometimes violent.

The county government, after just two days, said that the woman had been rummaging for food in the area in June 1988 when she was taken in by Mr Dong’s father.

The two were married and a marriage license was issued two months later.

Reports said that she had given birth to eight children.

In a statement issued on Monday, the city of Xuzhou, in Jiangsu province in China said that a joint investigation by the city and Feng county — where the woman lived — had found the woman had come to Jiangsu from distant Yunnan province, and that her relatives said that they hadn’t heard from her since a local woman took her away in 1996.

Monday’s statement also said that officials’ treatment of the woman was under investigation.

Currently, she is being treated in a hospital by a team of physicians and is in stable physical and mental condition, the Global Times reported.

Meanwhile, the medical team who have been treating the woman said she was diagnosed with schizophrenia but said on Monday that her mental condition is “stabilising”.