A mother of 8 children
Was found chained around the neck in cold weather
And Chinese officials’ response
Just made people angrier
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by Blinkist.
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So, when mentioning China, a lot of people think about a strong economy, with skyscrapers
and high speed trains, as if the future is here!
But China also has a dark side.
The side Chinese officials don’t want you to see.
Behind the skyscrapers is widespread poverty.
The further from the top-tier cities, the worse it gets.
Introducing Mr. Dong Moumin . He lives in a town in Xuzhou of Jiangsu Province.
Dong is an internet personality—a vlogger on Douyin, which is China’s version of Tiktok.
His username is “Father of 8 Children.”
Because that’s what he is, a father of 8 children.
Q: What makes you so brave to raise so many children
A: It’s not about liking children…
I didn’t marry until I was 34.
People looked down at me.
Q: How many children do you have?
A: Eight children.
Q: How many boys?
A: Seven.
Q: Seven boys, one girl.
Now I know China relaxed the one-child policy several years ago—but 8 kids?
Wow.
You’d think he’d have to pay some big fines.
Or bribes.
Mr. Dong has 63,000 followers on Douyin.
So what’s the appeal?
The appeal is the ‘positive energy’ Dong and his family have in spite of their poverty.
I mean, did you hear that tear jerking music in the background?
This Dong guy is a hardworking father!
Q: Is it stressful raising so many children?
A: Ah, I just want them to grow up and do what they want.
A：The kids must go to school, they need an education.
Only knowledge can change your destiny.
Q: What’s the eldest child’s name?
A: Hong KongQ: And the second?
A: Aerospace A: Gold Mountain , Silver Mountain, Money Bank, National Treasury, International
， and the girl is named Silver Phoenix I think we should all name our kids like this.
‘Hey, Aerospace, can you help National Treasury with his math homework?
Silver Mountain doesn’t seem to have the right answer.’
Seeing Dong’s hardship raising 8 kids, a lot of fans have sent him donations—including
all this clothing.
Recently, another Douyin vlogger, who focuses on sharing the stories of impoverished lifestyles,
decided to pay a visit to Dong...
And that’s when he discovered the mother of those 8 children, named Yang Mouxia.
She was chained up in a shed, with a lock around her neck.
The lock on her neck is for some reason blurred out in this video.
Hello.
Are you cold?
Let me get some clothes for you, ok?
People have been very generous and donated clothes here.
I’ll get one now.
Is your food cold?
Yang had lost almost all of her teeth.
She could barely produce any sentences.
Can you understand what I’m saying?
(inaudible) Maybe if I speak slower-?
(indecipherable) It’s a bit small, it’s children’s sized.
In this kind of weather.
Everyone, take a look.
What this lady has to go through in this kind of weather.
Where has the compassion gone?
This video went viral throughout the Chinese internet, and netizens were demanding an explanation.
Well, the local authorities gave an explanation, but it didn’t exactly quell the anger.
It just made it worse.
Which I’ll get to after the break.
Welcome back.
After watching the video of that mother of 8 chained up, the Chinese public was outraged.
And all sorts of rumors began to fly.
Viewers speculated this might be a case of human trafficking, that the mother had been
abducted and was being held against her will.
And the age gap between two of the children was 10 years, which made people question whether
there might be even more children in between.
Screenshots were shared of people reporting their concerns of rape, torture, and captivity
to local police.
This public reaction soon got too big for China’s censorship apparatus to ignore.
Many of the hashtags discussing the case on Chinese social media platform Weibo were shut
down.
And under intense public scrutiny and pressure, the local county government released a statement
on January 28th.
In it they claim they did a primary investigation into the matter, and explicitly mention how
“There was no abduction and trafficking” involved.
They said the mother suffered from schizophrenia, and “would often beat children and the elderly
for no reason.”
Wait, that makes it ok for her husband to chain her up in a dark shed in the middle
of winter?
And if she’s mentally ill, could she really consent to having eight children?
And moreover, why does the great communist utopia of China not have a social safety net
in place to help mentally ill people?
As you can imagine, the official statement didn’t really soothe public anger.
In fact it made it worse, because it was such a shoddy investigation—if there even was
an investigation.
And so two days later, officials released a much longer statement.
关于网民反映“生育八孩女子”情况的调查通报 https://news.sina.com.cn/s/2022-01-30/doc-ikyamrmz8380928.shtml
Local officials said that Yang was a beggar who was taken in by Dong’s family, and married
him in 1998.
And that the family didn’t know at the time that Yang had a mental illness.
“When handling marriage registration, the staff of the Town Civil Affairs Office did
not strictly verify [Dong and Yang’s] identity information.”
Officials also said that “When Dong and Yang had their second child, the town’s
family planning department implemented birth control measures for them.”
But that the family planning department did not implement them in a timely manner.
Oops.
Ok, so that’s more information.
But it didn’t make things better!
Then, on the evening of Monday, February 7th, local Xuzhou authorities posted yet another
update.
This time, they reported that Yang Mouxia isn’t her name after all.
Her real name is Xiao Huamei.
As for her alleged schizophrenia, don’t worry about it!
“At present, [Xiao’s] mental condition has stabilized.
The results of the admission examination showed that [Xiao’s] tooth loss was caused by severe
periodontal disease, and other health indicators were normal.”
As of recording this episode, there is still an investigation into whether Dong’s behavior
is criminally liable—you know, for chaining his wife up in the shed.
I mean, there’s video evidence of what he did.
That’s more evidence than you typically need in a country with a 99.9% conviction
rate.
But strangely, it seems local authorities are very forgiving towards Dong.
“[Dong] had received donations and clothing from the local government for a long time.
Since the reveal of the incident… he has received many endorsements, causing netizens
to be stunned.”
Those endorsements include this: A picture of Dong in an advertisement for a wedding
company—which circulated online amidst all of the outrage.
It wasn’t reported when the brand deals took place, and it’s hard to find out since
they were immediately deleted after public criticism.
So...is it possible Dong has a tight relationship with local authorities, who allowed him to
have 8 kids and are covering for the way he treated this woman?
It’s hard to know, since so much of this is being covered up.
But anyway, Happy Valentines Day!
I hope you find someone in your life who’s worth keeping.
Just...not like this.
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I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.