When Will the Harm to Women End?

The film “Blind Mountain” was shot in 2006, directed by Li Yang, depicting the story of Bai Xuemei, a college girl who was abducted and sold to a remote mountain area in the early 1990s, forced to marry a middle-aged impoverished man, enduring torture from numerous failed escape attempts, yet persistently resisting.

Human trafficking has been an ongoing issue in China. ++To this day, nearly 10,000 to 20,000 victims are trafficked annually across various provinces.++ Surprisingly, the director deviates from the conventional narrative of depicting crime. There is no moral condemnation of the buyers of human trafficking, nor does the film employ thriller or suspense elements to sensationalize the plot. Instead, it adopts a gentler approach, exploring the complexity of human trafficking issues by showcasing the different situations of the victimized women. The film barely uses background music; instead, the director extensively uses natural sounds and rural dialects to create a strong impact. It feels less like a scripted drama and more like a documentary, gradually unfolding a dark reality to the audience.

In this 103-minute story, we can deeply feel how these women are entangled and tormented by violence, traditional concepts, and parental bonds.

“Of course it’s a girl, who would abandon a boy?“

Part of these women’s plight is attributed to the ++one-child policy++. In the mid-20th century, the government deemed the population growth rate to be too fast, thus implementing this policy in 1980, allowing each family to only have one child. Under the pressure of the traditional preference for sons over daughters, many families chose to abort female fetuses.

Just like in the movie, one day there was a baby’s corpse floating in the pond, and the villagers all went to see the commotion, gossiping, “Of course it’s a girl’s body, who would abandon a boy.” Under this trend, the gender ratio gradually became imbalanced. During the leadership’s inspection in the countryside, a scene where children were welcomed left a deep impression; girls stood on one side, only two of them, while boys stood on the other side, forming a large group.

According to ++China’s seventh national census++, there are 34.9 million more males than females in China. This gender imbalance implies that among the population of marriageable age, on average, one out of every five males will not find a spouse. Since males are the inheritors of family legacies, a shortage of wives may mean the end of the family lineage, thus creating opportunities for human traffickers.

Ironically, they initially killed female infants, but later they had to buy women for themselves.

“Nowadays, people are all bad. If you don’t keep an eye on them, they’ll run away.”

In the movie, we witness firsthand the consequences of this policy — the trafficking of women. A young female who have received great education is deceived into a remote village, thinking she has a job opportunity, only to find out she has been sold to local farmers for a mere 7,000 yuan. Xue Mei is not the traditional image of a vulnerable victim, she constantly seeks opportunities to escape. But escaping isn’t so easy.

The complex terrain and roads, along with her lack of money and weak physical condition, make it impossible for her to leave. Because Xue Mei “disobey,” villagers repeatedly advise Huang Degui that “nowadays, people are all bad. If you don’t keep an eye on them, they’ll run away.” So, under Huang Degui’s father’s stern attitude, the whole family joins forces to help Huang Degui rape her, and then they directly lock her in the house with an iron chain. From then on, Xue Mei is deprived of her autonomy, enduring continued rape and forced to bear the offspring of her rapist.

What’s heartbreaking is that this situation is even worse in reality.

(photo from: http://www.bcbay.com)

In January 2022, ++a short video surfaced from Jiangsu Province, China, depicting a woman chained in a doorless shack, sparking intense discussions.++ The woman appeared malnourished with missing teeth, indicating signs of abuse. She had been subjected to multiple instances of trafficking, despite suffering from mental illness, she had given birth to eight children. The incident had been ongoing for two years, with no updates from the outside world since the official Xinhua News Agency reported in early April of the previous year that she had been hospitalized and her condition stabilized.

Women’s freedom and dignity continue to be severely violated, their voices suppressed, and their rights stripped away. This is not just an isolated case but a systemic issue.

“Tell my parents, I’m still alive, tell them not to come looking for me.”

Freedom isn’t only restricted by iron chains; maternal love has become another form of restraint. Like Bai Xuemei, Chen Xue, a woman abducted just like her, returned to the mountain village after being rescued. What drove her back into the abyss was her love for her child.

In the eyes of these men who purchase wives, wives have effectively been reduced to breeding tools like animals. They are forced into continuous reproduction, their individual dignity and desires trampled under the feudal husband’s authority. Yet, in Chen Xue’s eyes, a child is a gift from above, a pure existence. In the film, once the abducted women give birth, their mobility is no longer restricted. Because people know that the umbilical cord connecting mother and child has securely tied these women’s hands and feet. At the end, Chen Xue decides not to leave. She tells Xue Mei, “Tell my parents I’m doing well, I’m alive, tell them not to come looking for me anymore.”

Chen Xue, as a character, embodies multidimensional humanity in the narrative. She is not just an exploited victim but also a mother filled with love and a sense of responsibility. She represents the strength of humanity and love even in extreme circumstances. Her choice to return to the mountain village and give up her freedom symbolizes a symbolic expression of maternal love and family values.

Since the 1980s, both the federal and local governments have made various focused efforts to completely eliminate human trafficking, yet the problem endures.

In this blind mountain, the closed environment bestows a self-contained logic on the locals: poverty robs them of the ability to think critically, nurturing ignorance; ignorance strengthens them, telling them that what they do is always correct.

Their world is locked in a cycle of purchasing woman, having children, becoming bankrupt, purchasing woman again, and having children again, much like a Möbius strip. As long as ignorance and poverty prevail, this trade will continue, as will the persecution of women.