An outrageous attempt by a mother in China to have her 27-year-old son marry a girl, aged 11, by kidnapping her after the girl’s family rejected the proposal, has sparked a public outcry.
In February 2023, the mother, surnamed Yang, from Qujing City, Yunnan province, southwestern China, met the young girl in a village in Liupanshui city in the southwestern province of Guizhou.
Believing the child to be a perfect match for her son, she proposed taking her back to Yunnan to become his bride.
After the girl’s father declined the proposal, Yang conspired with her son to kidnap the girl.
On February 14, when the girl was alone at home in Liupanshui, Yang abducted her, and the son took her back to their home in Yunnan.
Yang was arrested on February 20, and her son turned himself in four days later. By which time, the girl had spent four days in their home.
On December 15, 2023, the Shuicheng District Court in Liupanshui sentenced Yang and her son to two years and seven months in prison, respectively, for child abduction.
The mother and son appealed, and a second trial at Liupanshui Intermediate People’s Court reached the same conclusion on March 7.
The case, reported by Red Star News, has ignited a fierce online debate.
The main concerns appear to be with the “leniency” of the court-imposed penalty for child abduction and the moral implications of the attempted marital arrangement.
“Seven months? Unbelievable. Has the cost of child trafficking become so low now? This is practically encouraging crime,” one person said.
“I don’t understand why sentences for child traffickers are still so lenient. This is the cause of the crime continuing. The profits outweigh the costs,” said another.
“The son was born in 1997. Aside from the abduction, an adult with an 11-year-old girl is outright illegal. Those involved deserve the harshest punishment. This family is really outrageous,” a third wrote.
China has an ancient tradition of child brides, known as tong yang xi, where a family adopts a pre-adolescent girl to raise her as a future wife for one of their sons.
Despite being banned in 1950, the practice continues in rural areas, which leads to girls being kidnapped.
In one case, Yang Niuhua, born in 1990 in Guizhou province in southwest China, was sold at the age of 5 for 2,500 yuan (US$350) to a mute father in Hebei province in the north of the country.
She was mocked throughout her childhood for being a child bride. Then, in July 2023, she was finally able to take her trafficker to court where he was sentenced to death.