Jiangsu Province Promise to Investigate ‘Woman in Chains’ Video

Jiangsu’s provincial government has established an investigative team to look into the case of a woman being chained by her neck in a dilapidated hut in Fengxian County, Xuzhou, reports China Daily.

The local government has vowed to severely punish anyone deemed to have been involved in criminal activity. 

An investigative team was created after a video of the woman, who has been identified by her surname Yang, went viral at the end of January. 

Yang is from Yunnan Province and is believed to have given birth to eight children during her time in Xuzhou. It is unclear how long she was chained by the neck in the hut. 

The video went viral on Douyin, and was captured by a man who found her and gave her warm clothing, according to the BBC. 

Chinese netizens were outraged by the scene and demanded a thorough investigation. 

Many netizens raised concern as to how this case avoided authorities as the woman had birthed eight children, despite the country having strict limits on the number of children a family can have. 

In the video, the woman seems confused and is unable to answer simple questions, such as whether she feels cold. 

Since the story a number of articles have circulated around WeChat and Weibo from people claiming to be from Xuzhou and Fengxian County. In said articles, which have since been deleted, some people mentioned a problem of human trafficking and kidnapping in the area.