Like Hsu Chi, Taiwanese actress 陆小芬 used to be well-known for low-budget, titillating flicks. That’s how she she entered the entertainment scene. However, after her initial debut, she went on to act in movies with engaging plots and meaningful themes.
With the chained woman in Xuzhou fast becoming an icon for human trafficking which is apparently still rife in China. Interestingly, many people who have visited China on tours and business are surprised that such things could happen in prosperous and progressive China. It’s timely to take a look at how this issue had already been exposed and explored in movies made decades ago. 1990 Taiwanese film《贩母案考》takes a no hold barred approach to the human trafficking problem in the mainland.
Though based on a true story, this is a movie after all. The majority of women tricked and sold to men in the impoverished countryside are treated like animals.
Below is another “interesting” case. A married woman with a history of mental illness was warded in a mental hospital. Her father brought her to her maternal home and she had reportedly disappeared from there.
She was later found at Fuzhou 抚州 (Jiangxi Province) when a man surnamed Lei wanted the crew to help him locate the “matchmakers” who had cheated him. Lei had apparently paid over 48,000 yuan for the woman but she turned out to be mentally ill.
When they established that her name was Zong Xiaotao from Jiangxi capital Nanchang. They located her husband, surnamed Yang who didn’t know what happened to her after his father-in-law took her home from the mental hospital, but he wanted her back. When he called Lei to release his wife, Lei asked for money!
Note that these cases are quite different from the Xuzhou woman’s case because they only involved common citizens. The Xuzhou chained woman’s case involved senior members of the Party and hence, there was an attempt to cover up.