The video of a toddler locked in a cage in the rear of a vehicle in the city of Haikou on China’s Hainan Island went viral on June 17, triggering concerns among Chinese netizens, with many raising suspicions of human trafficking.
State media
reported the incident the next day, citing local police investigations, saying that the incident involved a family of eight. According to the police, the child climbed into the cage “voluntarily” and therefore caused a misunderstanding. However, the official narrative has drawn widespread skepticism online.
According to a June 18
statement from the Haikou Civil Affairs Bureau, the local police received a report from concerned citizens on June 16 after the vehicle drew public attention on the streets. The red mini truck had several small children onboard, some of whom were without clothing, and one toddler was seen inside a metal cage.
Local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities identified the vehicle’s occupants as a family from Henan Province, which is over 1,000 miles away from where the vehicle was videoed. The 55-year-old father, surnamed Diao, and his 33-year-old wife, who reportedly has an intellectual disability, have six children together. The couple had no stable employment and travel across the country in their mini truck, doing odd jobs.
Chinese officials
said that the family had recently arrived in Haikou by ferry. On June 16, while dining at a local restaurant, Diao left four of the children in the vehicle while tending to his wife and others. To prevent the children from falling out of the vehicle, he used a metal cage as a barrier at the back. One child reportedly climbed into the cage on their own while playing.
The authorities’ statement also claimed that the children are in “good condition and emotionally stable” and that they have since been provided with clothes, shoes, and toys. The local government from their hometown reportedly arrived in Haikou on June 18 to escort the family back, and Haikou authorities presented the family with a gift package featuring local specialties.
An earlier statement by Haikou police on the same day of the incident stated that the family’s documents, such as household registration and marriage certificates, were in order, and noted that the woman and two of the children have disabilities. The cage, according to the police, was something the family picked up during their travels and was intended as a makeshift barrier, not for confinement.
Online Scrutiny
Despite the official explanation, online reactions on China’s highly censored social media have been mixed, with many scrutinizing the incident. Netizens have questioned the legitimacy of a marriage involving a woman with intellectual disabilities and criticized the decision to allow such individuals to raise six children in dire conditions.Under China’s Civil Code, persons with intellectual disabilities can only consent to marriage if they can clearly express their own wishes. Nevertheless, even the state-run media acknowledged that in rural parts of the country, the legal procedures are often not followed in practice, and persons with intellectual disabilities are often “delegated” by other family members without their explicit consent. The media described such practices as “buying and selling marriage.”
The fact that the local police concluded their investigation on the same day as the incident also drew widespread scrutiny online. The police speedily announced that the couple’s marriage was in the correct order and dismissed any suspicions of abuse or human trafficking.
Furthermore, the CCP’s past “one-child policy” was well-known, and the limit was only increased to two children in 2017 and to three in 2021. It is unclear how this couple in question had six children under the regime’s draconian policy.
Comparison to ‘Chained Woman’
Some Chinese netizens referred to the infamous 2022 “
chained woman” case in Jiangsu Province on China’s eastern coast, where a woman with intellectual disabilities was found chained in a rural shack. She had been allegedly abducted as a child and was said to have had eight children. That case also prompted widespread anger, with official narratives facing sustained public disbelief.
Subsequently, Chinese
bloggers and citizen
journalists who sought accountability for the “chained woman” were subpoenaed and intimidated by CCP authorities. The story has been suppressed by the regime as it targeted those who questioned the official narrative.
As of early 2025, a Chinese lawyer
reported that the “chained woman” has been confined in a mental health facility for the past three years, while access to her hometown village is tightly restricted by the authorities. Her case has become a symbol of China’s ongoing struggles with human trafficking, abuse, and state accountability.
