Since video clips of the woman, dubbed “Little Flower” in Chinese media, were published on social media, her fate has led to an outcry in China. In the video, she is shackled with a chain around her neck. The six convicted receive between eight and 13 years in prison for abducting the woman, selling her and keeping her prisoner. “Little Flower” is said to have been stolen from her home in southwestern Yunnan in 1998. She was first sold to a farmer in Jiangsu for the equivalent of just over 12,000 Swedish kronor. She then appeared to go up in smoke, only to later appear in the province of Henan where she was sold on to people smugglers for 7,300 kroner, according to court documents cited in Chinese media. The smugglers brought her back to Jiangsu in 1999, where she was again sold for just over 12,000 kroner to the man who later got her pregnant. Since 2017, the man has kept the woman chained in a room without daylight, electricity or running water. During 20 years, she gave birth to eight children and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, reports CNN. Since the case became known, it has led to an unusually large outcry in China, where similar cases often go under the radar due to the strictly limited civil society.
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