China Faces Another Human Trafficking Scandal: The ‘Iron-Bar Woman’ Case Sparks Outrage

Just days after the global outcry following the "Chained Woman" incident in Fengxian County, Xuzhou, China, the revelation of the "Iron Bars Woman" has caused a massive backlash regarding China's severe human trafficking and inhumane society. Recently, posts have appeared on the Chinese internet alleging that a female university student named Wang Guohong, who went missing in Qinghai in 2009, is currently suspected of residing in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. According to the internet, Wang Guohong, a student at Qinghai National University, suddenly disappeared on September 27, 2009, 13 years ago. When Wang Guohong vanished, her parents searched everywhere for her but were unable to find her; her mother, devastated by the loss of her daughter, fell ill and passed away in May 2019. Then, a post appeared on the internet stating that a man named Li Limin lives in Yulin, Shaanxi Province, and that he has been operating a video channel on the Chinese video platform Kuaishou since early 2020. The post claimed that he lives with a woman named Xiaoyu, who is suspected of being the missing Wang Guohong, and that this woman has been subjected to mental and physical abuse by Li Limin for a long time. Li Limin is 20 years older than Xiaoyu and was the operator of a channel with 100,000 subscribers on the Kuaishou platform; however, the channel was shut down after the incident was made public. According to netizens who watched the videos at the time, Li Limin uploaded videos depicting his daily life and raised donations, and in the process, Xiaoyu's appearance and story appeared several times. In the videos, Li Limin stated that he brought the woman from somewhere to live with him, and that she attempted to escape several times during their cohabitation but was caught each time; he said he beat her severely each time and that he initially tied her to a chair for three days after catching her.