Chinese Nationals Rally to Support the ‘Chained Woman’ in China

On March 8, 2022, Los Angeles Chinese nationals supported the "chained woman" outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Provided by Jie Lijian)

On International Women’s Day (March 8), Chinese nationals throughout the United States rallied to show support for the “chained woman,” chanting slogans, such as “Chinese wake up” and “Down with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

Several groups held a protest rally in front of the United Nations building in New York to support the “chained woman.” They chanted slogans, such as “free the chained woman!” “Down with the Chinese Communist Party.” They called on UN Women and the United Nations Children’s Fund to intervene and urged the CCP to thoroughly investigate the abduction and trafficking of women and children like the “chained woman,” and to hold the perpetrators accountable.

At the end of January, the video of a mother of eight, barefoot, wearing no coat, with a chain around her neck, and locked in a small dark room in winter, was posted on the internet, arousing the sympathy and anger of many who saw it. The local government issued five announcements about the situation that contradicted each other. Soon, the chained woman was sent to a psychiatric hospital. The woman’s identity remains unknown. It is alleged that she’s a human trafficking victim sold to the family that enslaved her. No one has been prosecuted.

Shao Jun, chairman of the Christian Justice League, told the Chinese language NTD, “Surveillance cameras are now everywhere in China. It is very easy for the CCP to arrest a person, and it is also very easy to track a missing person. So this incident shows us the CCP does nothing. Their officials, big and small, are all involved in human trafficking.”

Zhang Jing, founder of China Women’s Rights, pointed out that the trafficking of women and children has existed for decades in China, and the regime’s All-China Women’s Federation has done nothing about it. The organization is used by the CCP for propaganda purposes.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, 40 to 50 Chinese people held banners saying “Release the chained woman” and “Chinese wake up” to support her.

In front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, Chinese nationals support the plight of the "chained woman" and hope that she will be free as soon as possible. March 8, 2022. (Supplied)

Among the demonstrators, Esther, who is from Xuzhou and works in education, told NTDTV that her friends in Xuzhou went to Huankou Town and a mental hospital in Fengxian County to learn the facts about the woman. The school did not allow them to talk about the chained woman in the classroom nor on the social media platform WeChat. Therefore, she was very worried about the chained woman’s safety.

The convener of the event, Jie Lijian, said that under the CCP’s rule, there are so many women like the “chained woman” who suffered inhuman treatment, “This is a shame for mankind in the 21st century. It’s the horrific representation of women and children being abducted and trafficked under the CCP tyranny.”

In Canada, near the Chinese embassy entrance in Vancouver, more than a dozen Chinese also held a campaign to support the “chained woman.” They shouted slogans such as “Down with the Communist Party,” “Free the chained woman,” and “Freedom belongs to China”.

The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in late February temporarily diverted people’s attention from the chained woman incident. However, on the eve of International Women’s Day, Chinese netizens posted articles, pictures, and videos in solidarity with the “chained woman.” Chinese director Hu Xueyang’s film “SOS (Save Our Sisters)” premiered the day before in solidarity with the inhumanely abused “chained woman.”

Li Yun contributed to the report.