China, Mongolia: Kidnapped Wives
Duration: 12'34"
Reporter/Producer: Martin Adler
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In China thousands of young women are being kidnapped and sold as wives to lonely men. Buying an abducted wife is an ancient Chinese practice abolished by the communists - but now it's back with a vengeance. With remarkable access, this film follows a private detective on the trail of a kidnapped wife - a gruelling journey which exposes the human cost of a resurgent, sinister trade.
At least for China Zhu Wenguang's line of business is unique- he tracks down abducted women. From his base in a rural part of Sichuan province he has found and released women all over the country - often many years after they went missing. Many of those he's released have terrible stories:
"I didn't want him. His sister-in-law locked me in with him. I refused him. But he raped me... When I escaped they caught me and beat me up. Later I drank pesticide and I was sent to hospital." Yang Xiu Ping, Freed Woman.
Yang Xiu Ping was abducted at sixteen, and was only freed years later by Zhu. Although horrifying, her story is typical. Leaving her rural Sichuan village she travelled to Chengdu, the regional metropolis, in search of work. At the labour market on Chengdu's Nine Eye Bridge she was abducted, before being trafficked and sold. It's estimated that 30 women go missing from the Nine Eye Bridge labour market every day. One former kidnapper who worked there explains his tactics:
"I used to trick them, make them my girlfriend. Tell them 'we're going on a tour together' - and then I sold them."
But what explains the surge in kidnapping women over the last few years? According to one of China's leading independent economists, the trade is a dark manifestation of China's new affluence and market-driven economy. Getting married is now very expensive - weddings are often lavish affairs and in addition, many husbands have to pay a 'bride price', a fee demanded by the wife's parents. But buying a kidnapped bride costs a mere one tenth of the expense of a wedding.
The main buyer areas for kidnapped wives are China's poorest provinces. We follow Zhu to Inner Mongolia, a remote and backward region where many kidnapped women end up. But as we see, this is a foreign land for Zhu - and success is far from certain.
On April 1st this year China's government launched a campaign to stamp out the trade in abducted women. This remarkable film shows the challenge they face.
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